Falling Angel
by SWtRLF
Summary: Having survived the their mission, Mercy and her team return home. Doing her best to relax soon finds Mercy doing the exact opposite thanks to a multitude of ups and downs, including an unwelcome guest. Direct sequel to Ice & Explosions. Last chapter up. Please enjoy, thanks for reading!
1. Home

The sight of Watchpoint Gibraltar was something that Mercy had missed much more than she had originally imagined. The rusty and slightly run down old base had it's charm though, especially when compared to being stuck in some god forsaken temple with a crazed AI. Mercy sighed and rubbed her eyes a bit, the images of the place still flashing behind her eyelids. It had only been a few hours since her and her team had managed to escape the place, so she hadn't been able to fully relax just yet. She was dying to slip into something that wasn't filled with sand, the usually comfortable suit itchy and feeling rather heavy on her worn out body. The ship finally came into a descent near the entrance to the base, Mercy smiling softly as she stood and called for the other three team members.

"Mei, Jamison... Hog?... we're back!" She called out with a slightly upbeat tone to her, still in the leader role that she had done her best to maintain through their mission. The ragtag group slowly popped up from their places of rest, Mercy having to hold back a soft giggle as Junkrat and Mei slunk out from the same general area. She had assumed that something had happened between them, and the man's extra ruffled hair mixed with Mei's flushed cheeks helped Mercy's intuition figure the rest out.

As they lined up and waited for the door to lower, Mercy looked over them with one last smile.

"You all did very well out there, I will make sure that each of you is properly rewarded for your courage. 76 is very understanding, even if we sort of didn't get the mission completed the way he wanted." She giggled softly as she thought about the strong and silent man. She looked forward, awaiting a nice welcome back from a few of the other members of the renewed Overwatch.

What she got was a bare landing area, with nobody to be seen. Mercy sighed, part of her knowing that it would be too much to expect a welcome party. She took a few steps out to make sure nobody else was around before turning to her group.

"Alright then team, you're dismissed. Welcome home and enjoy your time off. I'll let you know if anything else comes up, just please stay within boundaries and all that, okay?"

Mei and Junkrat both grinned before running off towards the mess hall, with Roadhog simply shuffling off towards nothing in general. Mercy was going to point out that he was simply walking towards nothing but she decided against it. Not like her word would stop him now anyway.

She took a deep breath, hearing the ocean against the rocks and feeling herself calming down for the first time since they had gotten back on the ship. As she stood there, her mind wandered on it's own for a little. She could see the waves crashing against the rocks, the foam of the water fizzling out as she breathed in and out deeply. Before she knew what was happening, she opened her eyes to find herself back in the temple of Anubis, that large monitor gazing at her sadistically with a mad grin on it's face.

"YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GET RID OF ME ANGELA?" It shrieked before Mercy shook herself back into the present, almost falling over from the shock of what she had seen. Her hands shook slightly as they rubbed her temples, her breathing a bit shaky as she tried to shake the thought from her mind.

"No... Angela... calm down... he's not here..." She tried to convince herself, the words only half working as she began to slowly make her way towards her room. The walk seemed short as her mind was preoccupied with why she was having such a hard time in moving on. Yes it had only been a few hours now, but that last vision felt so... real. She swallowed a bit as she arrived at her room finally, her hand resting on the lock, the thing scanning her palm and opening with a soft noise.

Once inside, Mercy began to undress, unlocking her breastplate first and setting the slightly dusty white piece of armor on it's holder, soon following it up with her wings and fabric undergarments. She noted a few holes in the woven material, the thought of it's original creator passing through her mind for a split second before she moved on to her shower.

The water was cold on her worn down body, her muscles aching as she stood there, back against the wall to let the cold mist cover her. Her eyes closed a bit as she took in the feeling, her breathing once again becoming calm. She smirked to herself as she finally pulled herself from the wall and began to clean herself. She heard a soft beeping coming from the next room as she began to shampoo, knowing that it meant 76 was wanting to speak with her about the mission. She smiled and sped up her washing a bit, soon drying off as best she could, putting her damp hair into a messy bun and slipping into her comfortable clothing. The soft white shirt and darker jogging pants did well enough to cover her as she slipped into some comfy house shoes and left her room, making her way towards the mission briefing area.

As she made her way through the halls, she found her hands running over any old names that she passed by as their rooms came and went. Torbjorn, McCree... even Reinhardt, that lovable old man. She missed all of them for her own reasons, but maybe one day they could all come back together. Her eyes passed over the last one before the mission briefing, her heart sinking slightly as she hurried past it. She didn't want to think about him, not today.

Walking into the room, Mercy looked around for 76 before finding him standing and looking out over the base. He looked like he usually did, official and careful. His stance softened as he heard her enter, though he did not turn to greet her.

"Glad to have you back Angela, I'm sure you have good news for me?" He turned his head to the side, his mask covering his face though she knew he was looking at her sideways.

She smiled and nodded as she made her way closer to the man, standing beside him and leaning into him a bit.

"Well of course, good news is... we didn't die!" She chuckled a bit at the silly joke, and to her surprise, the man gave her a single chuckle in response. Something was odd now, as he wasn't usually one for jokes and even worse, that hadn't even been a good one.

"Soooo... the bad news is..." She lowered her head a bit, looking away from him as she whispered slightly.

"We kinda destroyed the AI..." She closed her eyes, waiting for 76 to blow up.

He stood there, taking a deep breath before walking away from the window, leaving Mercy to stand on her own for a second.

"I see... who made the decision to destroy Anubis?" He looked at her, now grilling her about the fine details.

"Well you see, we were captured and it was either destroy the AI or let us die, Mei only did what she thought..."

"Mei? I thought you were in charge of the mission?" 76 interrupted abruptly and Mercy could feel his gaze on her.

Mercy felt her face get hot as she did her best to not meet the man's gaze.

"I, uhm... well I was out of commission, Junkrat and Mei were very courageous in the way they handled the situation given what was going on..." She did her best to be confident in her words, and yet the longer 76 stared at her, the less she felt like her words were the right ones.

"Oh Jack, don't be so hard on the girl! She's been through a lot!" A familiar voice filled Mercy's ears, and she quickly looked up to see a face that she had never expected to see again.

"A...Ana?!" She exclaimed before running towards the older woman and pulling her into a tight hug, the woman reciprocating the hug with a soft laugh.

"Hello Angela, so glad to see that you are doing well, though I must say... you look just as young as you did last time I saw you!"

Mercy held the woman tightly, feeling like this must be some form of dream. Ana had been dead, that's what Morrison had told them. After that everything had been different. Things just went bad and yet now here she was again. But had she said... Jack?

Mercy looked at 76 with wide eyes, her mouth dropping a little as she stood up, at a loss for words.

"Y-you... are you..." She finally stuttered out.

76 stared at her for a bit, before shooting a look at Ana as if they had had a different plan for this moment. He then reached up to unlock the mask from his face, pulling it away to reveal his face to Mercy.

"Hello Angela."


	2. Loss & Gain

"J...Jack?"

Mercy felt the air get caught in her throat as she looked over the man's scarred face. His eyes were bright in contrast to his grizzled and aging face, the same look she was used to getting all those years ago. She let go of Ana to quickly force herself against him in a tight squeeze of a hug, her fingers digging into his body as she felt hot streaks starting to run down her face. Thankfully she hadn't put on any makeup, as it was embarrassing enough to cry in front of these two.

"I... thought you were dead..." She would whisper softly as she pulled her head away to look at Jack once more, a soft smile coming to his face.

"Well, most of me was. All I had to keep me going was a self driven need for vengeance. Unfortunately that's what brought this new Overwatch together. For that I apologize Angela, I shouldn't have drug you into my personal war against something that might not have even been real. I had been wanting to tell you about who I really was for a long time now, but a part of me knew that Jack Morrison needed to stay dead for the time being." He hugged Mercy tightly before his smile grew into one that Mercy had only seen on a few occasions, her heart fluttering a bit at the thought that he was about to tell her more of what she had been dying to hear.

"Thankfully a certain person came along and talked some sense into me..." His smile went from Mercy to Ana, his gaze a bit longer at the older woman.

Mercy felt her stomach knot up as she noticed this. She remembered now where she had seen that look before. Back when Overwatch was going strong, the shared look of love between the two prodigal heroes. She felt sick as she watched it linger, her fingers letting go of the man. It would be a lie to say she hadn't grown accustomed to being 76's main focus of attention and a part of her had been dreaming of the day that he would reveal himself to her and confess his feelings. Childish as it was, this big reveal had been ruined thanks to Ana coming back, Mercy glaring at the older woman with a slightly bubbling hatred.

She was pulled out of this glare by Jack as he pulled away from her to get back to business.

"Now then, Angela, I believe you and your group did as well as you could given the unforeseen circumstances. But until we know a little more about this Anubis business, I want you and your team resting here at home. Last thing we want is someone else poking around and coming after you all." He stood and gave a soft smile to her, the dreamed of look tarnished by Mercy's stomach twisting in that angry knot.

"If that is all, then you are dismissed. Ana and I have some things to discuss." His tone seemed like that of a younger man, Mercy doing her best to simply nod in response. She took a slow breath, trying to play herself off as calm and collected as she turned to leave, having to pass Ana on the way out.

"So nice to see you again Angela, please stop by my room sometime so we can catch up! I'm sure you have plenty of stories that Fareeha and I would love to hear!" Ana smiled genuinely, though Mercy met it with a half assed attempt, merely pushing past the woman to escape the sickening room.

Pushing her way out, Mercy made it to the next hallway before slipping into a room and breaking down. She felt the hot streaks of tears run down her face as she did her best to quietly sob, gritting her teeth and punching at the walls as the anger of the situation took over.

How could this happen? Out of everyone that 76 had to be and of everyone for him to bring back, WHY was it this way? Her breathing became heavy as her fingers scratched against the metal walls of the room. The images of them together was like gasoline on the growing fire in her stomach, the woman about to scream before she felt someone staring at the back of her head.

 _"Now what?"_ She thought to herself before she stood quickly and ran a hand along her eyes to clear the leftover tears. Her tone became a fake one of well being, doing her best to not show her mixed emotions in case Jack or Ana had followed her out of the room.

"I'm fine, just a little jet lag..." She was stopped, her eyes widening as she saw who was in the doorway. The figure standing in her way now couldn't be real. She blinked a few times, her body starting to shake as she couldn't process the sight before her.

Gabriel Reyes.

But that couldn't be. Gabriel was dead. His body might still move and talk, but that wasn't who stood before her now. It wasn't Reaper.

"H...how..." Mercy's body didn't know how to react. This had to be a trick of some sort, right? The man smiled at her softly, the same stupid smile he always had when she was trying to figure something out. His voice filled her ears softly, the soft tone not matching his words.

"You did this to yourself Angela."

Gabriel walked closer, Mercy finding no way out as she back into the wall and shut her eyes knowing this had to just be a waking nightmare. She was tired was all, she was alone here, Gabriel wasn't here, Gabriel can't be here.. he couldn't be.. because she... she had...

"YOU'RE NOT REAL! GABRIEL IS DEAD! BECAUSE OF ME!" She suddenly screamed, her blurry eyes opening to find that she was alone once more. The room empty save for the woman. She looked around quickly before jumping to her feet and running out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She wasted little time in getting back to her own room, thankfully not having passed anyone on the way there.

Slamming her own door and locking it up tight, Mercy found herself fighting with her own thoughts. She had seen him there, she had heard him speak. But he wasn't there. Her hands shook as she poured herself a drink, barely able to pour the glass full from how badly shaken she was at the moment. She finally got down a few gulps of the strong drink, shutting her eyes tight as the sting slipped down her throat. She took a long, deep breath and did her best to relax as she drank, her nerves starting to slowly calm from the alcohol filling her body.

"It's alright Angela... you're just going through some mission related fatigue and seeing things." She reassured herself as she sighed softly, pouring herself another drink and downing it a bit easier than her first one. She sat and drank herself into the night, tears softly slipping from her eyes every now and then as she thought over everything. Before she knew it, she had passed out on her couch, glass in hand.

The loud beating on her door woke her from the deep, drunken sleep. She groggily opened her eyes, the world a bit blurry as she could still taste the alcohol on her lips.

"ANGELA WAKE UP! EVERYTHING IS GOING TO SHIT OUT HERE!"


	3. Nightmare

The sudden yelling forced Mercy's eyes open, her blood pumping through her veins with adrenaline soon hitting her brain. She quickly sat up and looked at her door, eyes wide and full of fear. She had hoped it had just been a dream, the voice calling out. She jumped as her door was soon being banged on, the voice coming back.

"GODDAMMIT ANGELA WAKE UP! COME ON!" The voice was full of panic and a desperation, and Mercy could hear something happening on the other side of her door. Were those gunshots? She swallowed hard as she quickly got up, stumbling a bit from still being a bit drunk. She went to her door and slowly opened, merely looking out with one eye.

Nothing.

Not a soul was on the other side, just the soft wind and the bright of the moon shining through a window not too far from her door. A cold sweat started to creep down her head and neck as Mercy tired to calm herself once more, looking back over to find that she was out of her drink. She cursed softly to herself, before something outside her door caught the corner of her eye. Her neck nearly snapped with how quickly she turned back to the opening. In her drunken state, she figured it was Hana or Lena out for a midnight snack but a part of her needed to know. That and she needed to get more alcohol, just in case.

She closed her door once more, walking back to where her armor sat, looking a bit dingier than she remembered. She wiped her face off with her sleeve as she slipped her shoes on, stretching a bit as she grabbed her sidearm from the holder beside her staff. She hadn't really planned on using it, but she wasn't about to take any sort of chance. Putting her hair up in a high ponytail, Mercy made her way back to her door and slipped out, pistol in hand as she looked both ways down the hallway.

Not seeing anything either way, Mercy headed to the right, as that had been the way that the figure had been going. She slowly made her way down the hall, the soft air of the night blowing through the open windows of the place. The smell of the salty sea filled her nose, mixing with the sound of the waves and helping Mercy remain calm as she headed towards nothing in particular.

"Hana? Lena? Hello?" She called out softly, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. She had started to sober up a tad, though she was a bit hesitant to face a noise she had heard. Taking a deep breath, she turned and pointed her gun towards an empty hallway. At least, it looked empty at first. The longer Mercy looked down the hall, the more her eyes told her that something was there. Her breathing picked up as she saw the shadow dip into another hallway and without even thinking Mercy gave chase, her footsteps echoing in the hall as she closed the gap between her and the mysterious figure.

She looked into every room and hall that she passed, before she finally found the correct one. Her heart was pounding as she stood in the doorway, the shadow figure standing and facing away from her in a corner. Mercy slowly stepped inside, her eyes glued to the figure as her hand shakily looked for the light switch. She swallowed hard as she found it and flipped it, the lights flickering to life but not helping much. The bulbs of the room seemed to have busted, the dim lighting only adding to the creepiness of the room and it's inhabitant.

The flickering had gotten the figures attention, as Mercy could feel it staring her down. She didn't want to look at it, a feeling in her gut telling her that nothing good would come of it. She felt hot tears forming at the corners of her eyes, as though she knew what the figure was. WHO the figure was.

"Gabriel... why... are you here..." She softly spoke, her eyes staring at the floor. She clutched her pistol tightly in case he attacked her, though she was not sure if she could truly use it if she needed to.

The figure stood there for a few more moments, the tension in the air growing thick. The voice that filled her ears was not what she had expected though. It wasn't the rough, gruff voice of Gabriel or Reaper. It was soft spoken, with an heir of mystery and a hint of youth. The voice sounded troubled, it's words gripping at Mercy's heart.

"You did this to me, Angela."

Mercy couldn't stop herself from looking up, her eyes coming face to face with what could only be described as an abomination's nightmare. What stood before her was the body of Genji Shimada, the suit that she had made for him to keep him alive. But it was twisted and disgusting from head to toe. The usual white was spattered in blood and grime, his arms and legs having many spots where bone was poking out. Mercy felt sick to her stomach as her eyes were glued to his face, the hot tears growing worse. The once handsome young man's face was half ripped off, an arrow through his eye. His expression, at least from the half of his face with skin still on it, was sad and disappointed as he stood there, judging her.

"Gen...Genji no... I... I fixed you... I made you better..." Mercy's knees gave out, her hands hitting the floor as the tears started to fall to the floor, her voice getting weak and cracking as she continued.

"You were... dead... they wanted me... I wanted to... bring you back..."

"Angela..."

"You were so innocent, you never wanted anything to do with this, and yet I did this to you..."

"Angela."

"I had been working so hard... no more death... we could help everyone... but you... just a test..."

"ANGELA!"

Mercy felt her body being shaken as her eyes shot open, the bright light overhead blinding her for a few seconds as she grumbled and groaned, the first feeling she got was that of the hot tears down her face. As she shook the blindness and slumber away, she quickly looked around, finding herself in her room once more. Her breathing was already quick as she slipped away from whoever it was that had shaken her from her nightmare.

"Gen... he was... what time is it?" Mercy's mind was going a mile a minute as she tried to get up, only to find herself forced back onto the couch by a slightly playful shove.

"Well hello and good morning to you as well."

Mercy finally paid attention to who was in her room with her and instantly felt her body go limp with reassurance.

"Fareeha..." She quietly spoke, her eyes gazing over the woman with an endearment that few received. She felt her lips curl into a smile without her permission, as the woman smiled back.

"Please Angela, only my mother calls me that." She smirked a bit before going to grab Mercy a cold glass of water, coming back and sitting beside her and holding it out to her in a rather demanding way.

"Drink this. Believe it or not, it does a body better than that stuff..." Her eyes pointed to the empty bottle that was laying beside Mercy's couch. Mercy took the glass of water and gulped it down rather greedily, her body needing more of the cool liquid as she finished it.

"More... please..." Mercy coughed a bit as she held out the glass, with Fareeha smiling and nodding as she took it from her. Mercy watched the woman go this time, finally able to pay attention to more than her voice. Thankfully the woman wasn't wearing her power armor, a feat that few seemed to be able to get her to perform. Though if Mercy knew Ana, then her daughter had had little choice once the two of them had arrived.

Once again Ana filled Mercy's mind, making her a bit sick as she scowled to herself, trying to dismiss the negativity in the presence of Fareeha. She once again smiled as she looked over the grown woman, remembering how the girl had been such a cute child. She had had a rough life that was for sure. Having such a legend of a mother, only for her to be thought dead for so long. Mercy had done her best to try and keep the young girl from anything dealing with the military or government protection services or just anything that really dealt with guns and bad people in general. She had obviously failed, but Fareeha had done quite well for herself.

"So.. what brings you back here?" Mercy finally piped up as Fareeha came back to sit down with the full glass of water. Mercy took it and began to gulp more of the cold liquid, her body getting enough for the moment.

"Well as you already know, my mother is finally back, thanks to 76." Fareeha smiled as she crossed her legs on the couch. "After he found her, she came and found me. I'm just glad that she did it sooner rather than later. I mean, if I had to find it out from you or anyone else, that woman would have gotten a stern talking to!" Fareeha laughed lightly, causing Mercy to smile a bit. Of course it was a little concerning that Jack and Ana hadn't told the girl about Jack being 76. Why had they told her and not Fareeha? She questioned it a bit in her head before her thoughts were interrupted.

"What's going on Angela?" Fareeha asked rather bluntly, her tone and expression very serious all of a sudden.

"Huh? Wha... what do you mean?" Mercy asked rather dumbly, as if trying to play off the fact that she had just been shaken out of a drunken nightmare, the remnants of which were still playing in her head.

"Angela, how long have we known each other? I know when things are getting to you. This isn't the first time I've had to shake you out of a drunken sleep..." Fareeha's eyes were staring at Mercy and not letting up, but they weren't cold in any sense. Her look was one of worry and of caring.

"I.. well.. it's just that..." Mercy didn't even know where to begin with all of the things that had been going on. She took a deep breath and tired to calm her nerves as she looked into Fareeha's eyes.

"I think I'm losing my mind."


	4. Remember

Fareeha looked over her friend, her soft smile becoming a slight frown as she heard Angela admit to thinking she was losing her mind. It had been some time since they had caught up, but it wasn't like Angela to let anyone in on how she was truly feeling. She was always the one who people came to, not just for medical attention. The woman had been one of the strongest people she had known, ever since she was a kid. She remembered the visits to this place, her mother always running off to talk about 'Overwatch this' and 'Protecting that'.

Of course no matter how annoying her mother had been, Fareeha had always known that deep down it was for a good cause. Plus she got to meet and be close with some of the greatest heroes that all of the kids in school looked up to. Though most of them asked about Reinhardt, the charismatic knight in shining armor, none asked about the one woman who was just as important. The angelic medic who made sure to keep the team alive, the caretaker who's family was her sole duty to protect. Fareeha had always looked up to Angela just as much as her own mother, if not more in certain ways.

Fareeha sighed softly and scooted closer, pulling Angela's head onto her shoulder and rubbing it slowly. It was an old move that Fareeha had been through a few times in her life. She might not have the same caress or soft touch that Angela had, but she did her best. She didn't speak, merely rubbing that golden hair slowly, feeling the soft heartbeat of the woman against her chest.

Angela was surprised as her head was brought against Fareeha's shoulder, her hair being stroked rather slowly and calmly. She took a soft breath, doing her best to hold in the hot tears that she could already feel coming. Instead she smiled and pushed herself a bit more against Fareeha, her hand coming up to grab at the woman's shirt and tightly gripping it. Her heart was beating quickly, her cheeks a tad flushed as she tried to keep herself calm.

"You don't have to talk about it, but holding it in will only hurt more." Fareeha spoke softly as she stroked Angela's head, the words ringing in the woman's ears as one's that she herself had spoken. There had been more than a few times in Fareeha's childhood that she had been so angry at the world, so angry at everything. Her mind filled with the images of **_that_** day. Reinhardt, Torb, McCree, Angela and even Jack. All of them coming to her room as she waited for her mother. All of them coming in, their faces immediately painting the picture of what had happened.

* * *

 _"Fareeha... I'm... I'm sorry but..." Angela spoke softly, sitting beside the girl and pulling her close, doing her best to hold back the tears as she couldn't even imagine what the poor girl was going through._

 _"What's going on Angela? Why are all of you here? Where's my mom?" Fareeha asked softly, looking along the group of faces as she tried to get an answer from any of them. Each of the men looked away as the girl looked at them, unable to bring themselves to answer the question._

 _"Fareeha... you need to understand something..." Jack came close and knelt down, swallowing hard as he put his hand on the girl's shoulder. He finally looked her in the eyes, clenching his jaw a bit as he saw so very much of Ana in the girl. He had been wanting to tell the girl something important for a while, he had been wanting to tell her that she had more than her mother. To hold her in his arms and call her what she was, instead of having to be so proper with her. But now, how could he admit to such a thing after failing her in such a way?_

 _"Understand WHAT? TELL ME! TELL ME NOW!" Fareeha was getting frantic, her lips quivering a bit as tears began to work their way into the corners of her eyes. This had to be some sort of cruel joke. They were all just acting sad and mopey for no reason. Right?_

 _"Your mother... she... she won't..." Angela tried to mutter out the news, choking hard on the words before Jack finally got it out._

 _"Your mother saved us Fareeha. She is a true hero, to us all. But she won't be coming home..." Jack felt himself hardening as he spoke, his heart growing a bit cold as he did his best to get the point across. He swallowed again before standing and turning to leave, unable to stand the room any longer._

 _Fareeha sat there, fists clenched as the man walked away from her after ripping her heart out. The other men still weren't looking at her, all of them instead looking at their feet or at anything that wasn't the broken little girl._

 _"You... You..." Fareeha sputtered a bit, her body growing hot with rage as she glared at the back of Jack's head, eyes filled with hatred at the man she blamed, having nobody else._

 _"YOU'RE A DAMN LIAR!" She yelled, pushing Angela away from her and standing before pointing at Jack with malice. "SHE CAN'T BE GONE, SHE CAN'T BE DEAD. YOU'LL SEE, SHE'LL COME BACK AND SHE'LL... SHE'LL..." Fareeha's anger had her breathing heavily, tears now streaming freely down her cheeks before she clenched her fists into balls and let out a pained scream, the room echoing the noise and making the men and Angela flinch from the sharp tone._

 _Jack took a deep breath, the ringing in his ears settling as he left the room. He grit his teeth as he made his way down the hall, stopping for a second to punch one of the walls repeatedly, to the point that his knuckles began to bleed slightly. The pain wasn't enough, not after what he had just put the girl through._

 _Angela grabbed the girl and pulled her into a tight squeeze of a hug, quickly rubbing her head and holding back her own tears as she tried to console the child to the best of her ability._

 _"Calm down Fareeha, it will be okay... We're all still here for you... we won't ever leave you... it's okay..."_

* * *

Fareeha took some slow breaths as she remembered the day, swallowing a bit at the words that she had shouted at the man in anger, even though she knew he wasn't to blame. She had just needed an outlet, and it so happened to be him. She was a little ashamed that she had never been able to properly apologize, the last she had spoken to him being to his gravestone. She shook her head a bit to get the negative thoughts from her mind, as right now she needed to focus on Angela. Her own problems could wait.

Mercy basked in the slight warmth and comfort that Fareeha was giving her, her mind starting to slowly stop racing and let her see things in an order that she could somewhat explain.

"I've been seeing things Fareeha... things that aren't really there. Things that feel real, until I wake up to find out that they aren't." Angela began to talk, her tone soft and serious, the images of what had been happening the past few days coming back to her mind.

"I saw... I saw Gabriel. He was here and yet he wasn't. I saw Genji too, but he was... so..." Mercy began to sniffle a bit as she remembered the man that had stood before her in the horrific dream.

"Well these things, these visions, they aren't real. We both know that. Perhaps you are just tired? We both know how you sometimes go a little too long without rest." Fareeha tried to lighten the mood a bit, keeping the woman held against her as she felt the warmth of tears against her shoulder.

"It's not that. Something happened during my last mission Fareeha. There was this AI... Anubis..."

"Anubis? The God Program that controlled all those Omnics? How was it still active?" This new revelation intrigued Fareeha, as she had looked over the reports for that certain AI before. It was said that it had been destroyed back in the day, yet here she was being told that it was the exact opposite.

"Y-yes.. He held my team and I captive. The things I saw while I was held were living nightmares, and it seems that... they've followed me out." Mercy tried to hold herself together as her body shivered a bit, the back of her neck starting to ache a slight bit as she rolled her head slightly to relieve the pain.

"Well, I don't really know what I can do..." Fareeha began to comfort the woman, her hand rubbing Mercy's neck and shoulders softly with a small smile, hoping to help in some way. Mercy blinked and looked up at the woman, eyes going wide as the face of Ana stared back at her, eye wound front and center. The sight of it made Mercy's stomach drop and churn heavily, almost making her sick right there on the spot. Ana spoke, mouth curling into a wide smile as her good eye began to glow a bit red, her voice a bit distorted.

"...Are we having a good time yet Angela?"


	5. Inner Demons

Mercy rapidly blinked, scooting away from the horrific sight staring at her with a malicious grin. As the initial shock of the sight dulled over, Mercy swallowed a bit hard before clenching her jaw. Her mind raced as it knew that this wasn't real, just like Gabriel hadn't been real. Just like how Genji hadn't been real. She shut her eyes and focused on Fareeha's face, picturing it clearly in hopes that she could force the nightmare to stop.

"You can't get rid of me that easily Angela..." The distorted voice of Ana rang harshly in Mercy's ears, her heart sinking a bit as she slowly peeked through her eyelids, finding the wounded woman still looking at her. The fake Ana chuckled before shaking her head, seemingly amused by Mercy's actions.

"What are you? Why is this happening to me?! What did you do to Fareeha?!" Mercy's tone grew a bit more tense and demanding with each question, her chest heaving up and down as she began to get worked up, growing tired of these visions. Ana smiled and leaned back, eyeing over Mercy's expression of anger with a soft breath from her nose in a patronizing show of her finding this situation funny.

"I'm a little disappointed in you Angela, I though you'd already know who I was." The Ana sighed and shook her head, as if scolding Mercy for not getting what it was trying to say.

"What do you mean? This is just some form of stress related nightmare. You aren't real, none of these things are real, just bad figments of my imagination mixing with things from my past." Mercy explained out loud trying to justify to herself that she wasn't crazy.

"Well you're half right there doc, this IS all in your head.." The Ana chuckled before reaching over and raising Mercy's head to make sure she was keeping those lovely little eyes on the face it had made for her to see.

"Nothing has happened to your dear little Fareeha. I'm simply plastering ole mommy dearest's face on her, since I know how much you love the old hag!" A snide smirk came to the Ana's mouth while Mercy's heart began to beat quickly, the thoughts of her anger from yesterday filling her head once more.

"I'll admit, I'm playing a little dirty, what with the whole Gabriel and Shimada punk stuff, but if we're being honest with each other, it was way too much fun. I mean, you should have seen your face during both of those! Such regret!" Mercy scowled and pulled away from the hand, cursing under her breath in her native tongue to the dismay of Ana.

"Don't for a second think that I'm not real though dearie. I'm just as real as you, just a little less... physically based." Mercy would feel a pair of fingers pressed against her head, her eyes looking up to see the Ana was pointing a finger gun at her forehead with a smile.

"Before I let you go, just know that you can't fight me for much longer. You and your little organization will bow to me. Buh bye now!" The Ana waved and shot the finger gun, making a little explosion noise. The world went black quickly, leaving Mercy blind to everything around her. Then it hit, all at once.

Mercy grabbed at her head a bit, closing her eyes in slight pain as the memories of yesterday filled her mind, though they seemed to have been edited in various ways. Her anger was violent in nature, images of her attacking Ana in manners that she was sure couldn't have been possible at the time. Part of her wanted the pictures to stop and yet a small portion of her was reveling in the aggression, the violence, the destruction of the old woman. The longer it went on, the harder it was to focus on anything that wasn't Ana being killed in some horrific way. Mercy felt as though her head was going to explode from the pressure that was building up from the thoughts.

"STOP IT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Mercy cried loudly, eyes tightly shut as hot tears of both pain and anger dripped from her cheeks. She panted loudly, the pressure from her head fading, though the thoughts of those violent acts remained.

"A...Angela?" Mercy heard her name softly spoken, her eyes shooting open to find Fareeha staring at her, a sad and shocked look on her face. Mercy found herself unable to speak, Ana's face flashing across Fareeha's each time Mercy blinked. She felt herself shaking a bit, one hand leaving her head to tightly grip the couch and steady herself. She was hoping that Fareeha had merely been worried about her not answering a question or paying attention, though she was sure that her last little outburst had been heard,

"W-What do you have against my mother Angela?" Fareeha wasn't looking at the woman any longer, instead staring at the couch between them, her tone cold and distant as if the two of them were strangers.

"I- what do you mean Fa-" Mercy slowly looked up as she spoke, the hand still on her head clenching a bit as she saw the look on the girl's face. It was the same as that day, the day when they had told her about Ana not coming home. Yet she wasn't crying, she was too strong to do that these days.

"You just stopped talking. Then you started again, but it was gibberish." Fareeha looked up, staring deeply into Mercy's eyes with an unnerving stare.

"You kept mentioning my mother... and how..." Fareeha took a deep breath before pulling herself from the couch, standing with her back to Mercy now.

"You kept babbling about how you wanted to kill her Angela."

Mercy sat there, body shaking heavily now as her gaze couldn't leave the spot in which Fareeha had just left. She felt something in the back of her head laughing at the cruel joke that her life had quickly become, as more hot tears slowly rolled down her cheeks.

"N..no.. Fareeha, I-" Mercy was at a loss for words, even though she had so many burning the tip of her tongue. She wanted to scream out about how it wasn't her talking, it was something in her head. It was something controlling her now, controlling her mind and her dreams. Mercy's mind raced over the images of her nightmares, all of them flashing across her eyes before a new thought finally slipped in, as if the thing in her head decided to finally help her a bit.

"A-Anubis..." She muttered to herself, eyes looking up to Fareeha with a widening gaze. Fareeha had turned to look at the woman over her shoulder, unable to leave Mercy in this state on good conscience.

"Anubis? What about Anubis? What does that have to do with this? What happened Angela?" Fareeha turned around now, leaning down to grab Mercy by her shoulders and shaking the woman a bit. Her face was growing worried as the woman in front of her slipped further and further into some form of madness.

Mercy began to laugh, slowly and softly at first. Her shoulders jostled up and down, growing harder with their movements as she grew louder. Within a few seconds she was hysterical with laughter, Fareeha pulling back in a slight fear.

"He's... in..." Mercy giggled, smiling at Fareeha with what could only be described as a psychotic look.

"HE'S IN MY FUCKING HEAD!"

Fareeha jumped slightly at the sudden outburst, heart racing as her body tensed up in anticipation for any form of attack that the crazed woman might attempt, though nothing came thankfully.

"He's in my head Fareeha.. He's in... my..." Mercy was cutoff as she felt her body being forcefully shut down, from the stress or somehow from Anubis she didn't know. Her sight began to go black once more as her eyes closed and her body fell forward onto the couch.


	6. No Control

"Nngh.. what..." Mercy slowly opened her eyes, looking around to find herself in her own medical wing, though it had been some time since she had actually been here. The beds were rather immaculate, apart from the one she was laying in, their sheets a bit faded as the woman sighed softly. There were reasons as to why she tried to stay away from this place as much as possible, her services usually being rendered in her living quarters. There had thankfully been nothing serious going on and the worst she had mended was a deeper cut or two from when Lena and Hana decided that they wanted to be brave and reckless.

Looking over at the open window, she saw that the sun was just barely over the horizon. Had she really slept for an entire day? The memories of what had happened before she passed out slowly started to trickle back into her head, though they weren't as intense as the first time around. The main two focus points were the look on Fareeha's face and the fact that some how, some way, Anubis had found his way into her head. She sighed deeply and put her head into her hands, the darkness seeming to comfort her for a few seconds.

"Oh Angela... how do you get past this one?" She muttered to herself, hearing soft steps coming towards her location. She quickly looked up to find two young girls peeping inside the hall, their faces easily recognizable. One belonged to the perky British Pilot, Lena Oxton while the other was owned by the gamer turned mech pilot Hana Song. When they both noticed that she was looking their way, they smiled brightly and popped around the corner.

"Oi! You're finally awake huh? We were all pretty worried about you Ange!" Lena was the first one to Mercy's side, using her abilities to win what Mercy supposed was a race between the two younger girls. A smile slowly crept to Mercy's face as she was given a lovely bouquet of flowers, a chuckle coming from her as Hana made it to her side, huffing a bit as she glared at Lena for cheating.

"You didn't need to bring me flowers Lena, I was only out for a little bit. Not like I was dying or anything!" Mercy took the flowers and put them on the small nightstand beside the bed, looking at both of the girls with a motherly reassurance on her face.

"But Miss Ana said you were twitching pretty hard! Like she said you were close to.." Hana was soon shushed by Lena covering her mouth, a wide smile trying to cover for the younger girl's inability to realize when one shouldn't tell the truth.

"Close to falling off the bed!" Lena finished Hana's thought for her, shooting her a scolding look before continuing. "But we didn't let ya fall off, since you know, we wouldn't want you havin' a big bump on your head!" Lena giggled and smiled, hoping that she had somehow covered their bases. Mercy looked over them with a rather unimpressed look, knowing that Hana had something more to say and assuming that it was related to her having been out for near an entire day.

"Right..." Mercy decided to not prod any further as she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to know all the details anyhow. That and she was more than ready to leave the medical wing, the emptiness around the three of them only causing memories of the old days to creep at the back of Mercy's mind.

"So! Let's not stay in this musty place much longer, I'm already growing a bit tired of laying around!" Mercy smiled as she pulled off her blanket, only for her eyes to widen in embarrassment as she saw her pale white legs staring back at her. She eeped a bit before pulling the blanket back over her naked lower body, her face a bit red as she looked around the room for any signs of real clothing.

"Oh! Uhm... sorry about that, we thought you woulda known about that whole thing because you know... uh.. any who..." Lena quickly zipped over to grab some sweat pants that were waiting for when Angela woke up, both her and Hana a bit red in the face from not having expected such a close look at the woman's body. As Lena handed the pants over, Mercy twirled her hand a bit for the girls to turn around, which they did quickly.

Mercy watched the two girls turn around, keeping a close eye on them them before slipping off the side of the bed and into the sweat pants, the things a bit large for her but snug in a way. She smiled softly as she tied the string to make sure they wouldn't fall down before stretching a bit and walking past the two other women, waving them on to follow her.

"Come on now, I'm hungry and I'm sure the two of you could go for something to eat, right?" Mercy turned back to leave the room, pressing the button to the door in order to leave. As the door opened slowly, she found herself staring at a worn down hallway with bullet holes riddling the metal and glass. She could feel a slight pressure on the back of her neck, her breath getting caught in her chest as he eyes flicked quickly along the hall.

"No.. not now..." She closed her eyes and shook her head, doing her best to shake the images from her head. Reopening her eyes she would find the plain wall staring back at her, relief washing over her once more.

"Well come on then love, quit blocking the only door!" Lena chirped behind Mercy, poking at her back a bit as she grew impatient.

"Oh, uhm, sorry dear. Must have stood up too quickly is all.." Mercy blinked a few times before looking back outside, the hallway still plain and boring. She sighed softly before walking out and heading for the mess hall, feeling the eyes of both the girls on the back of her head in case anything happened to her.

 **" _Finally you're awake!_ "** Mercy's eyes shot around to see who was speaking, before she realized that it was in her head. She didn't know which was worse, thinking she was crazy or actually finding out that Anubis was now living inside her mind.

 ** _"Don't worry my dear, I mean you no harm. In fact, I'm here to help you!"_** Mercy scowled at the thought of this as she continued to walk, doing her best to keep herself together as to not concern Lena or Hana. She began to think her responses, knowing that speaking aloud would cue the girls into something strange happening.

 _"What could you possibly offer me, you abomination?"_ Her inner tone was much darker and rough than her outward expression.

 ** _"Ouch, that actually hurt Angela. But you know, I'll give you that one. I've done some pretty awful things and I admit it. But you see, there's a reason that I'm here in your head."_** The AI's tone was soft at this point and if Mercy didn't know any better, she would have given him more time to explain.

 _"You're here in my head because I am psychologically damaged at the time being. I had a very rough mission and you just so happen to be a part of my psyche. You will go away with plenty of rest and relaxation. I will hear nothing more about it."_ She humphed in her head, finishing their conversation even as the voice continued to try and speak. Each attempt was swiftly ended with another humph, as she finally made her way into the mess hall.

"Finally! You were goin' soooooo slow love!" Lena darted off to the kitchen to get a head start on grabbing anything she could find, as Hana hugged Mercy from the side, burying her face into Mercy's shoulder.

"It'll be alright Miss Angela. No matter what happens, you'll always have us!" She smiled brightly before following in Lena's steps, though Mercy noticed that she was going... slow?

 ** _"Angela... you seem to be mistaken about your current situation."_** The voice was back in her head, the world around her going much slower than before, almost making it seem as though Hana was crawling towards the kitchen.

 ** _"You see, I have more control over your body than you like to admit. I'm not just in your head any longer, I'm everywhere. The only reason you are even breathing right now is because of me."_** The voice was stern now, as if teaching her a lesson and scolding her over it.

 ** _"I made them watch as you were on the verge of death. I made them all watch you writhe in pain, screaming your lungs out as something they couldn't stop killed you from the inside. I took out all my rage on you Angela because simply put... you are the reason for me being here. If it weren't for you and this damned organization, I would still be happily locked away in my home. But you destroyed it... you and those damn brats. So between that and me keeping you alive, I say you owe me something big..."_**

Mercy flicked her eyes from Hana to Lena, who she could see through one of the large windows in the kitchen. She was doing her best to keep her composure in the moment, wanting to scream at the voice that she didn't believe in it. Yet the more it talked, the more she knew that it couldn't just be something her mind was making up from stress.

 ** _"So listen to me and listen well. There is a place you need to be and a person you need to meet. I will be arranging the meeting soon enough and you WILL be taking me there."_** The AI's voice seemed rather confident that Mercy would do as he said, even as her thoughts began to instantaneously rebel against his wishes.

 ** _"If you don't? Well, perhaps we'll see what your little group sees you as when these two aspiring heroes wind up like the others you've tried to help in the past..."_** As Mercy blinked, Lena and Hana became visions of nightmare. Faces sunken in as if they had been dead for a while, eyes missing and various cuts and bruises covering the parts of skin she could currently see. This only lasted a few blinks before the girls returned to their normal state.

 ** _"Do we have a deal?"_** The line rang in Mercy's head as she took a deep breath, wanting with all of her heart to fight, to tell the voice to fuck off. But she couldn't risk it, not when others could be harmed for her actions.

 _"...Deal."_


	7. Pressure

The room felt cold as Mercy accepted the AI's deal, hoping that she wouldn't regret such a thing too quickly. Her eyes flickered between Hana and Lena, the girl's frozen in place as Mercy felt something at the back of her neck. A dull throb, an ache that she had only been experiencing since the mission at the temple had ended. Her eyes widened a bit as she finally put the pieces together. She quickly remembered something smacking her in the back of the neck before Anubis had died. She swallowed a bit, curses filling her mind as she realized how stupid she had been for not recognizing it earlier.

 ** _'Oh come now Angela, no need to beat yourself up over it.'_** Mercy felt her heart skip a beat as the AI responded to what she had assumed was the private thoughts of her own mind. She clenched her jaw, was there no privacy now? Was everything she thought and said to herself up for review?

 _ **'Why yes, yes it is Angela. Though I won't pry too much after this point. Think of it as a thank you gift for being such a good little puppet and accepting your place so easily!'**_ The AI chuckled darkly in the woman's head before continuing. _**'Oh and before you ask who we will be meeting, it will have to remain a surprise. Just know that they are very excited to see you again!'**_

With that Mercy felt her head clear once more, a fog having been lifted from her mind. She blinked a few times as time began to flow normally once more, Hana finally making it into the kitchen and piping up angrily from beyond the door.

"HEY! I WANTED THAT LENA!" Mercy heard the two girls shuffling in what she assumed was a playful tug of war, her lips curling into a small smile. The audible scene gave her a momentary lapse in her grim new outlook. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad having Anubis in her head, as long as she did what he asked. At this point she didn't have much of a choice, but it was nice to have a slight sliver of light in the oncoming darkness.

The woman took a deep breath before making her way into the kitchen, the two girls finally settling down as she walked in. The smell of sweets hit Mercy's nose right away and it was quite obvious as to why Lena and Hana had been scuffling. There weren't too many good snacks readily available around the watch point, which led many of the agents to bring things back from their missions and hide them. Both of the young women had histories with eating all of their own snacks and raiding the community pantry.

"What have I told you two about this?" Mercy was stern, waving her finger at the girls as they both broke away from each other to stand up straight as if they hadn't just been fighting over the candy bar that was now opened on the floor. "You both know we have to supply ourselves with things we want. Without a government to back us, we only get funds from doing missions and those are not well paying considering the history of Overwatch." Mercy sighed and shook her head as she walked over and picked up the candy bar, looking over the two stiff girls. They were acting like they would if Jack...

The picture of the man came into Mercy's mind along with the mixed emotions of love and hate. She hadn't even considered telling him about the AI in her head. Would she even be able to? Even if Anubis somehow didn't stop her from telling the man, how would he even react? Mercy sighed softly before taking a bite of the candy, mulling it around in her mouth as she turned around to find Jack standing at the door. Of course he had his mask back on, his new identity still the one he wanted everyone to call him by. Now it made sense as to why Lena and Hana were so rigid.

"Good morning Ja- _Sir_..." Mercy stared at the man, doing her best to not speak his true name or show him how she was feeling at the moment. Then again he had never been able to tell one's emotion anyway, lest he would have known how the woman felt from the start.

"Good morning Angela, Lena and... Hana was it?" The vet hadn't had much contact with the youngest recruit as of late, to which he blamed his own busy schedule and Ana returning, though he seemed earnest in his wanting to get to know all of their recruits.

"Sir, yes sir!" Hana raised her arm to salute the man, Mercy looking over her in fear that the girl had caught some sort of bug. She was never this polite and heaven forbid she show anyone that much respect right off the bat.

"Heh... at ease soldier, we aren't the military here. No need for salutes and all that. Got plenty of it back in the day and look where that landed us." He took a few steps inside, letting the door close behind him before standing at Mercy's side, facing the girls as she faced away from them. He noted the candy bar and chuckled. "Breakfast of champions I see."

The air was tense as this wasn't how the man usually held himself. He wasn't light, he didn't make jokes. He was tactical, efficient, didn't waste words. Yet as Mercy faked a smile up at him, she could tell that something was different now. Her stomach dropped as the AI popped in with his own two cents.

 _ **'OOooHHHHH, he's in loooooooove!** **'** _ The static crackle of his laughter made it hard for Mercy to keep a straight face, wanting to scowl and yell at the notion. She knew Anubis was right though.

 _ **'Sorry dear, but you saw it, I saw it and this man has seen it twice now. But honestly, if we are picking sides here? I'm totally Team Mercy76, or would it be Jarcy? Merck?'**_ The AI's taunting was only testing Mercy's patience with the entire situation, her shoulder's getting stiff as she felt her breathing get slow and deep to try and keep herself calm.

"I was actually just about to make the two of them breakfast, I assume you were looking to check up on me? Well I'm fine, thanks." Mercy was short and to the point as she broke away from the man, her back to him as she walked over to the pots and pans, grabbing a few as she had planned to make pancakes for the girls. She could feel all three of the people behind her staring at the back of her head, the messy bun atop her head showing off a rather sore looking and red neck.

"Are you sure you're fine? Your neck..." Jack barely got the words out before Mercy pulled the tie holding her bun, letting her silky golden hair flow freely down her back, tucking it under her shirt as to keep it from getting free in the food as she grabbed the mix and other ingredients.

"I told you I'm fine. Just a little sore from the mission, plus those beds haven't been properly taken care of in ages..." Her deflection seemed to work well enough, as she wasn't questioned again. Of course Lena and Hana were simply staying quiet as they didn't want to get in either of the older hero's sights.

Jack sighed softly as he turned towards the two younger agents, his covered face not allowing him to try and comfort the girls. He swallowed a bit as he turned his look away from Mercy as she began to cook, clearing his throat a bit and finally getting to the reason he had come.

"I just wanted to let you all know that there will be a team meeting today around noon. I want to get a good feel for where we are at as a group, as well as introduce a few of our newer recruits." He put his hand on Hana's shoulder and nodded. "That and it has been a while since we have all gotten together to eat and be merry. I hear that's good for morale." He chuckled again, trying to make the stiffness in the room a bit less tense to little avail.

He removed his hand from Hana's shoulder and went to turn for the door. "Hopefully I will see all of you there, though I understand if not." He didn't look at Mercy as he said this, but merely made his way out after finishing. The room was left quiet except for the sizzling sounds of food cooking atop the oven.

Mercy bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying, knowing the words had been directed towards her. She had been waiting so long for a big meeting like that, to perhaps finally get the man to herself after a good day of fun. Yet she knew that Ana would be there... she knew that she was nothing to him except an old friend. She felt her hands clench as the thought of the woman filled her with rage once more.

Anubis watched this reaction to his messing with her mind and smiled to himself, the woman was rather easily to manipulate even after she knew that he had control over her. But he could use this, use her fear of seeing Ana and Jack together to drive Angela away from this group and towards whom he needed to meet with. Thankfully he had gotten into contact with his other half rather easily, the carrier of the piece seemingly being used solely to connect the two halves.

 _ **'How are things coming over on your end?'**_ The AI spoke to itself, quite literally. He had made sure to keep this from Angela as she needed to be in the dark about whom the other piece was connected to.

 **'Not too shabby if I do say so myself, we are already prepped and making our way back home. We sure hope to see you soon.'** The other part of him seemed just as eager to get back together, the yearning for being one causing a bit of a craving.

 _ **'Excellent. I've worked out a nice deal with my puppet and with a little more tweaking I am sure that she will be open to leaving as soon as possible.'**_

 **'Can't wait to see you once more, I have something lovely for you when you finally do arrive. Au Revoir Mon Cherie!'**


	8. New Outlook

Once Jack had left, breakfast continued on as normal. Hana and Lena watched the older man walk away, letting the room clear up from the tension before heading towards the counter. Each of them pulled out a stool and took their seats as they watched Mercy cook. The woman sighed a few times as she slaved over the hot oven though she didn't speak until she had finished.

"Hopefully you two are as hungry as I remember you being." Mercy spoke softly as she filled two large plates with the warm and fresh smelling pancakes, breathing deeply and putting a smile on her face as she faced the two girls to try and reassure them that she was fine. The reassurance was also for her own well being as she pulled her hair back into it's usual ponytail, the heat rolling off her neck as she fanned her face.

"Did you make any for yourself Miss Angela?" Hana pulled her plate close to her face, licking her lips as the fresh smell of the food made her mouth water. She had already grabbed her knife and fork, looking for the syrup before it appeared in front of her thanks to Mercy.

"I was more worried about you two eating up, I'll manage just fine. But thank you Hana." Mercy felt her chest warm from the sudden kindness of the girl, her eyes tracing over both Hana and Lena as they dug into the food rather eagerly. Watching them filled her with a feeling that she hadn't felt for some time, at least since the old days of Overwatch. Having the rooms full of young initiates, eating and carrying on as their chatter filled the place with life. Mercy had seen so many faces over the years, men and women from all walks of life. Some of them had been amazing in every way, some had no abilities but their heart and drive to better the world brought the organization to great heights.

Mercy admired the two young girls with a renewed brightness in her smile. Her mind raced with the knowledge that even after the original members of Overwatch were gone, these two would be able to help the world in their own ways. Mercy smiled and grabbed a fork, stealing a few bites from each plate of pancakes to the playful dismay of Lena and Hana.

"Oi! You didn't want any!" Lena grinned and pulled her plate away, leaning in close as if to protect her food like it was a valuable treasure.

"Yeah! Get your own!" Hana giggled as she pulled her plate up to her face to gobble down more of the food before any of it could be stolen.

Mercy chuckled softly as a bell rang out, the long and drawn out noise signaling the top of the hour. Looking over at the digital clock over the door, Mercy noted that it was now 11. She could feel her head growing a bit foggy, knowing that Anubis would soon be gracing her with his presence.

"All right you two, you've both seen that I am fine and I have fed you. Go on and do as you please before the big get together." Mercy shooed the girls away as she took their empty plates and turned back towards the oven to grab the dirty pan before heading for the sink.

"You sure Angie? We could help ya clean if you really want us to!" Lena popped up off her chair and zipped quickly to Mercy's side, a bit too perky for chores.

"Yes dear, I'm perfectly fine. If anything, cleaning up after you two makes me feel much more normal after everything that has happened." Mercy started the warm water, running the syrup covered plates underneath.

"Ooookay! C'mon Hana, let's go get you all spruced up! If everyone is coming by then we need to make sure you're up to snuff!" Lena ran and grabbed Hana by her hand, the young girl shooting a confused face at Mercy before being drug out the door by the eager Brit.

Mercy sighed slowly, closing her eyes and focusing on the water as it ran over her hands and the plates. She could feel the fog coming over her mind a bit more heavily, preparing for the voice in her head.

'Glad to see you've gotten used to me dear, though it would seem that our time is almost coming to a close. My other half is on it's way to where we will be meeting, so we should be on our way as well.' The voice was serious this time around, it's tone determined.

'Oh? Well unless we can get all this over in an hour, we won't be leaving until after this group meeting...' Mercy thought back, the previous brightness that she got from observing Lena and Hana filling her chest with a bit of bravery.

'Really now?' The voice was inquisitive, a slight anger hidden behind the question.

'Yes, because while I would love nothing more than to get rid of you and never see you again, I am a part of this organization. If I am not there, they would wonder as to why and quickly find that I had left. You can wait a little longer, perhaps you'll learn something from being around others.' Mercy felt her bravery strengthen as she spoke to the voice. She assumed that without her carrying him around, the AI would be lost forever. He could threaten and control her all he liked but without her he had nothing.

'...So be it then.' The voice gave in rather easily, soon fading from Mercy's head.

Mercy opened her eyes to find the water still going, the sound of it running fading back into her ears as she finished getting the last few bits of food and syrup. As she finally stopped the water she would realize that her hands weren't shaking. She felt a resurgence of confidence, spinning around and quickly making her way out of the kitchen.

Opening the door, she found Fareeha standing on the other side. Both of the woman stopped and gasped slightly from the shock of the unforeseen meeting, Mercy feeling her face grow hot as she remembered how their last meeting ended.

"Uhm, hello Fareeha... I uh, meant to come find you after I woke but had to make food and then we have this meeting apparently and..." Mercy began to babble on, not wanting there to be any form of silence between them. She was quickly shushed by the feeling of soft lips against her own. Her body froze at the feeling, not exactly knowing how to react to what was going on. The moment seemed to last forever when in reality it was a mere few seconds before Fareeha pulled away with a small smirk.

"I, uh..." Mercy began to speak to once again be quieted by a finger pressing against her lips. Her eyes stared into Fareeha's with more questions than answers at the moment. Fareeha shook her head softly before winking and walking away.

Mercy stood there stunned for a few seconds, her mind racing as she watched Fareeha walk away. Her eyes did their best to stay on the back of the woman's head, yet she found herself noticing how truly grown and filled out Fareeha had become. Mercy shook her head a bit to clear the creeping thoughts as she made her way back to her room, slipping inside and leaning against the door before letting out a held in breath.

"What... in the world..." She softly spoke to herself, unable to think about anything other than what had just happened. She smiled brightly, quickly making her way to her dresser in order to find something to change in to. She had plenty of things to wear but all of them were white and medical looking. She looked over at her battle suit, tapping her finger on her chin before walking over to it.

She pressed a few buttons on the base of the costume's resting place, a few panels of the wall shifting aside to reveal a few variations of her standard suit. She mused over the others, many of them simply color shifts. There was one that she had worn very little, the missions it had seen being those of darker intent. She grinned to herself and nodded. If they were having a party, there was no need for an angel. No no, they'd need something else entirely.


	9. Party Time

Jack couldn't remember the last time that the watch point had felt this alive. The only things he had been focused on had been the bad times. He could never forget those times, nor would he have done things differently, but it was easy to lose focus on all that negativity when you have so many new faces that are all there for the same reasons. He felt his lips curl into a small smile behind his mask as he watched people slowly flow into the area.

Even though he was in a better mood, he still wasn't much for decorations. Thankfully Ana had enlisted the help of a few others to make the shoddy little tabled area into quite a welcoming sight. One large banner was hanging between buildings, the sight a bit close to the cliff though Jack was sure that he wouldn't need to worry about anyone falling off.

Zipping right by him in a slightly blue streak, Lena had soon set up quite a few balloons and streamers. She zipped back over to Ana, grabbing a noisemaker and putting it in her mouth.

"I'll go and get any stragglers real quick, bee arr bee!" With another flash, the woman was gone.

Jack wasn't sure how many of the old members would be showing up. He hadn't exactly been on speaking terms with many, apart from Lena, Ana and Angela. The latter had been one of his first picks, knowing that if there was any one role they needed filled, it would be a medic. He took a breath as he noted the younger girl from earlier walking closer, along with the Junker duo that he had really not expected much from. Tagging along with the shorter, twitchier one was Mei. He recalled the scientist and what she had been through, surprised that she had come back so eagerly.

He made his way over to them, wanting to once again thank the junkers for their bravery in bringing back their team. As he walked towards them, he felt an odd sensation. Something inside him was... nervous? He had been on his own for a while and hadn't had much interaction outside of giving orders and missions, so the thought of lighthearted talking was daunting indeed. Would he even be able to say the right thing? Could he sound like he wasn't about to give more orders?

"Did you need something Mr. 76?" Mei's voice snapped Jack out of his thoughts, the man nodding quickly before looking towards the pair of still dusty an ragged looking men.

"Yeah, just wanted to tell these guys that they did well. I know it's probably not as exciting as an international crime spree..." Junkrat gave a slightly nervous giggle before looking up at Hog, the large man doing little outside of breathing heavily.

"But I willing to pay you both extra if you feel the need for going outside the lines of what you had been hired for." Jack looked at Junkrat, assuming correctly that he was the talker.

Junkrat got a bit wide eyed with excitement at the prospect of more money, grinning as he went to speak.

"Well mate, since you're offerin' and all, I'm sure we can work someth-grk!" Mei silenced the man with an elbow to the side, her lips pursed a she stared him down.

"Ehehehe... I mean uh... no worries... sir! I was just tellin' Mei here that that mission was more than enough compensation, considering I got to blow up some bots!" The man grinned once more, Mei sighing and shaking her head in a slightly embarrassed way.

Jack nodded before looking at the silent man, looking him over carefully. There was a reason that these two had come as a package. This one was the protection, the muscle. Before Jack could even ask, the man's low voice rumbled out.

"Excitement was payment enough..." Hog then walked away, heading towards the food tables that were now being stocked by Ana and Hana. As the large man went to grab something, Ana smacked his hand while Hana started to list off why he had to wait, rather bravely considering their difference in size.

"Oi, better go keep him calm before one of 'em gets tossed off the cliff!" Junkrat quickly made his way over to his partner in crime, with Mei waving at Jack before she followed.

Lena soon returned, blowing on her noisemaker rather obnoxiously as a few more faces showed up, Jack taking mental notes of those he knew and those that he needed to make time for, his eyes resting on Fareeha as she spoke with Ana. That was one discussion that had taken far too long already. Of course now was not the time or place for such a heavy moment.

Jack made his way towards the group, hearing something large coming from behind him. Turning, he quickly got passed by Winston, who was eagerly heading for the table that had a large thing of peanut butter sitting in the middle of it. The man chuckled as he continued to walk towards the table and his new team, doing his best to not dwell on the past.

Standing at the front of the table, Jack looked over the group. They all had plates in front of them and were looking towards him like a father figure, waiting for him to say that they were allowed to eat. The solider looked each one of them over slowly, before taking a deep breath and bringing his hands up to the corners of his mask, his fingers clutching the thing as he prepared to reveal himself to them all.

"Oh! Miss Angela is finally here!" Hana squeaked out suddenly, Jack's fingers slipping from his mask as he looked over to find himself staring at a piece of his past.

Out of all the things that Angela could have worn, Jack was unsure what made her bring out that old costume. His fingers clenched into fists slightly as he remembered having told her to destroy those suits. He grit his teeth as he quickly walked over to the woman, meeting her before she could make her way to the table.

"Good afternoon Jack, I see you all started without me? No worries, I did take a little long. Been a while since I've had this suit fitted, had to make a few slight adjustments to certain areas." Mercy smiled at the man in a very odd way, her tone overly sweet and leaning towards flirtation as the woman giggled at the obviously stretched fabric that covered her breasts.

"Why do you still have that suit Angela? I told you to destroy it." Jack felt his blood boiling a bit from how light Angela was making this out to be, as if she had forgotten what the red, devilish looking costume had been a part of.

"You've told me quite a few things Jack and if I had listened to you every time, we might not even be here." The woman smiled and slid a finger along the man's chest as she slipped by him with a slight whisper.

"Now if you'll excuse me... I have a party to liven up."

With that, Mercy made her way towards the table of people, a large smile on her face as she slipped through the food and sat down at the head of it, where Jack had just come from. She looked among the people and waved her hands at them.

"Well come now, eat!"

A few strange looks were given, but nobody objected and they were all soon digging in. Mercy grinned and did the same, though she kept her eye on Fareeha, unable to keep her eyes from the woman who had given her such a raise in confidence mere hours before.

Jack turned to watch his team eat, staring at Angela with a mix of slight anger and confusion. This wasn't like her, she wasn't usually the face of anything. He turned and made his way back, suddenly not as hungry as before. He stood beside Ana, simply watching the scene as his mind faded back to when Angela had worn that costume for it's first and only mission.


	10. Hidden Devil

"I don't see how you think this is going to work Gabe. We already know everything we need to know about this guy. He has nothing else to give us and honestly, you've already done way more than I should have allowed."

Gabriel chuckled a bit as Jack did what he could to try and pull his friend from this rather focused idea. The two men had both seen enough action to know that the man they currently held had more to tell them but Jack was more worried about just how far this was going to go if he didn't stop it. Helming the less pretty side of Overwatch, Gabriel had been getting rougher around the edges with every mission that his team had been sent on. Jack had never wanted this for Gabe but the government had their own ideas of what it took to keep things under control and Gabriel was more than happy to fulfill the secret missions.

Jack turned towards the double sided glass, looking into the holding cell at the seemingly unphased man that sat handcuffed to the large metal table. He was already condemned to spend his life in a prison for supplying weapons and ammo to varying forces, ranging from your run of the mill product to the higher end explosives that could level cities in the right hands. There was no slipping through a crack, Jack had personally seen to that. He turned back to face his friend, who had now donned a oversized black cloak and a bright white skull mask.

"Are you serious Gabe? You think playing dress up is going to make this guy talk?" Jack had to honestly hold back a slight bit of laughter as his old friend must be joking, though he couldn't tell what the man was thinking with that face covering mask now on.

"Overwatch has their methods, Blackwatch has our own. Now if you excuse me Jack, The Reaper has a meeting with our guest." The man's tone became a growl after speaking the codename, another stifled chuckle coming from Jack as he shook his head. While he wasn't the biggest fan of Blackwatch being around, Jack couldn't deny that they got results when they were necessary. Of course, he was one of the few members who ever came around. Reinhardt was too chivalrous and honor bound to even consider walking NEAR the Blackwatch area. Ana had given Jack more than a few lectures about how what he allowed Gabriel to do was putting them all at risk. Torbjorn simply kept a blind eye to the darker side of their operations, his own past making this much easier for him than others.

Jack sighed as he watched Gabriel shut off the lights to the room, quickly opening the door and rushing into the pitch black cell. Barely able to even see what was going on, Jack could only make out slight mumbling growls that he assumed was Gabriel trying to scare the man. The lights came back on suddenly, with Gabriel standing behind the man, cracking his knuckles and a clearly evil laugh filling the room.

The man jumped, obviously frightened at the entrance of the Reaper. His wild eyes looked at the glass, dialated eyes staring right at Jack before Gabriel grabbed the man by the back of his head and slammed it onto the table with a loud yell.

"SPEAK OR DIE."

Jack grit his teeth at the forcefulness of Gabriel, this wasn't how you were supposed to interrogate someone. Fear might be a good motivator, but Jack had seen what Gabriel had done with some of their enemies on the field. He swallowed hard, unable to look away until he heard the door behind him open up.

"J-Jack? I... didn't expect you to be here..."

The soft, sily smooth voice made it obvious to Jack as to who it was before he turned to confirm. What was Angela doing here and why...?

"Why are you dressed like that Angela?" The man spoke rather bluntly, more out of surprise that someone like her would join Gabriel in his costumed antics.

The woman blushed a bit, having not prepared for any company save for Gabriels. The young woman was clad in a rather tightly fitting red suit of spandex, her long legs ending with what looked like hooves. Her usual bright and angelic wings were replaced with more tattered looking versions,a red tint to them as well. Her canine teeth looked sharp while her eyes were colored red thanks to what Jack assumed were contacts. What topped it all off were the rather large horns that had been worked up to seem as though they were coming from the woman's head, the realism of this outfit making it obvious that it was not just thrown together. This had been planned.

"Did Gabriel put you up to this?" Jack barely let the woman think as he turned back to watch Gabriel let go of the man's head, before the lights went out again. Gabriel rejoined his comrades soon after, though the lights did not come back on just yet inside the cell.

"Ah, Angela! So glad you actually came. Have to say, you're looking devilishly good today!" The man chuckled as he looked over at Jack, getting a look of mixed concern and disgust.

"What's wrong Jack? Mad that some of your people actually like working for me?" The shot at Jack seemed a bit out of nowhere, the tension growing as Gabriel never looked away from the other man. The mask hid Gabriel's piercing look, though Jack knew it was happening. He went to argue with the man about how he was more concerned that Gabriel would pull an innocent woman like Angela into such stupid things, but he was stopped by the woman taking a hold of his shoulder.

"Don't worry Jack, he's right. I enjoy helping and as silly as it might seem, dressing up is kinda fun." The woman giggled a bit before pushing past Jack and heading for the door.

"Got him all warmed up for you Angie, go work those devilish charms. Just remember, if anything happens, I'll be here." Gabriel softly patted the woman's shoulder, reassuring her in a way that Jack couldn't tell if the man was saying it because he was the lead of the operation or because of something else.

Angela smiled and nodded, flipping the lights back on before she strolled inside, her posture and attitude completely changing once she was inside. The door closed behind her and the second part of Gabriel's plan went into effect.

The small woman smiled rather seductively at the man as she slipped inside and sat across from him, an obviously warm welcome compared to what he had jsut been put through by Gabe.

"I hope my friend didn't hurt you too awful much love, but you know how things can get sometimes. Don't worry though... I'm more than sure you will enjoy my company.. as long as you're a good boy..." Angela smirked and unzipped the front of her suit slightly, giving the man a view of something he had probably not seen for quite some time now.

Jack clenched his jaw, shooting a dirty look at Gabriel. This was his brilliant plan? To use Angela as sex appeal?

"Are you kidding me Gabe? This is..."

"Shut it Jack, just watch..."

Jack wanted to argue more, his eyes begrudginly making their way back to the room, where Angela was now crawling slowly over the table towards the man, his look spelling confusion as he was given a eyeful of the young woman's chest.

Angela giggled a bit as she laid down on the table, smiling sweetly as she held up her head with her arms, kicking her legs back and forth a bit like she was just having a grand old time. Her chest was within reaching distance of the man's cuffed hands, though he was obviously worried about trying anything.

"Oh dear, why so shy sweetie? This is your dream, they're all yours!" Angela giggled once more as she spun around on the table, her legs slipping through the man's arms as she suddenly scooted back and sat in his lap, a soft purr coming from her.

The man's voice was heard, but what he said was unable to be made out from how softly he was speaking. Whatever it was though, Angela quickly reassured him.

"Well of course it's all a dream dear. You've been in here so long that you were bound to fall asleep. But oh how lucky I am that you did!" Angela cooed as she slipped against the man a bit more, softly kissing along his jaw as her lower body slowly slid back and forth against the man. "Now why don't you tell me all the reasons that you're in here? I sure do love myself a bad boy, heh."

The next few minutes consisted of Angela coaxing the man to speak about what they already knew, nothing new being brought to light as the woman did her best to keep the man at bay from anything nmore than teasing and a bit of light groping.

"Okay that's enough, we aren't getting anything out of him that we don't already know. All we've done is watch Angela subjugate herself to...

"Shut the hell up Jack, you're just mad that it isn't you in there..." By this point Gabriel had removed his mask, an obvious look of anger starting to show over his face. He thought this would work like it had before. The last thing he needed was more talking down to him.

"I'm sorry, what was that Reyes? I can't hear you over how stupid this plan was." Jack was growing tired of this constantly salty attitude, his focus being pulled from Angela to face Gabriel.

"Oh, so sorry Mr. Morrison! Sorry that I'm just not as perfect and upstanding as you, FORGIVE ME!" Gabriel growled as he stared down Jack, hands clenched and ready to throw the first punch.

They were both interrupted by the sounds of the man screaming in the room, their heads nearly snapping off to see what was happening.

Angela was smiling rather crazily as she stood over the man, one of her hoof covered feet pushing on his back, causing him to push towards the floor. This wouldn't have done much, though his hands were still cuffed to the table that was built into the floor, meaning that his arms were now twisted backwards, with both being on the verge of breaking or being popped out of place by the woman.

"Sorry dear, but you broke the rules! I might love bad boys, but nobody breaks my rules... or else..." She grinned and pushed a bit harder, the man screaming out in pain far worse than what Gabriel had been able to achieve.

Jack quickly made his way towards the door, with Gabriel grabbing and pushing him back, bringing up a finger to point at him.

"No.. we're close. Who gives a fuck if this asshole has two broken arms? That means nothing when compared to what he might know!"

"Are you mad Reyes? We aren't here to hurt people, no matter how much an asshole they are!"

"Maybe Overwatch isn't here to hurt people, but Blackwatch? That's what we're all about, just looks at us Jack! You think the government would have even made Blackwatch if they knew we wouldn't be up for doing whatever it takes? That's why I'm glad they didn't pick me to lead Overwatch! Because here, I can do as I want and get results!"

Jack was breathing heavily, fuming as once again the man screamed. This time though, he was screaming information. Places of caches filled with weapons and ammo, even plans for Omnic attacks and where the warehouses making them could be found.

Gabriel smiled a shit eating grin, knocking twice on the glass to signal that Angela had done what she had needed to.

"See Jack? **Results**."


	11. Party's Over

Jack gritted his teeth as Angela walked out of the room with a rather wide smile on her face, the sense of accomplishment apparent. She was pulled into a tight embrace by Gabriel who was chuckling and patting her on the back as he looked through the glass at their prisoner who was still hanging a bit by his arms.

"You did well Angie. I knew I could trust you with this. Now we have this dirtbag for more than just little shit and he won't be going anywhere for some time."

Gabriel smirked a bit as he looked towards Jack, the two of them staring each other down for a few seconds before Jack looked away to focus on Angela.

"I will admit that this new information is very crucial to keeping this man behind bars, but do I agree with how you did it?" The question was obviously rhetorical, Angela's smile fading slightly as she was scolded. She sighed softly as she stepped away from Gabriel, feeling bad for letting herself go to such extremes for the information.

"You could have found another way Angela. Remember, there is always another way." Jack's tone was still held a bit of scolding to it, though it had softened as he knew the girl was just trying to do her best to help everyone. In that respect she always seemed to succeed.

Angela nodded slowly, to the slight dismay of Gabriel, who felt the words were more of a stab at him than anything else.

"Yeah yeah, always another way. Tell that to the people who died waiting for your other ways Jack..." The offhand remark was left hanging in the air as Gabriel went back into the room to grab the man and uncuff him from the table. Jack sighed as he shook his head, knowing that this wasn't the time or place for such an argument.

"What does he mean Mr. Morrison?" Angela's eyes were glued to the man now, searching for an answer. She knew that people died, she had seen that from the first day of being a doctor's assistant. But she couldn't begin to imagine how Jack would allow people to die, at any cost.

"Well..." Jack took a deep breath and shook his head once more, before putting a hand on Angela's shoulder.

"There will come a day when you have to make a very difficult choice Angela. That choice might not have any good outcomes. Sometimes waiting for a better option only leads to worse ones. But on that day, you will have to make a choice and have to stand by it, no matter who might tell you otherwise. Be it Gabriel, Ana or myself."

He paused as he looked at Gabriel inside the room, setting up more recording devices for the man to spill his guts to. He wanted to believe that things would stay the same but he could feel the shifts, he himself only seeming to make some of them worse.

"Overwatch was made to save people Angela, but sometimes..." He looked down at the girl, her gaze making it obvious that she was hanging on every word.

"Sometimes people die."

Angela felt her heart ache a bit as Jack said this, frowning and pouting slightly as she looked in at Gabriel, hoping that the tension she had been feeling between the two leaders was just in her head.

"People may die sir, but if there is one thing I've learned from the stories..." Angela smiled softly up at the man, full of hope and promise that nobody could deny.

"It's that **_heroes_** never die."

Jack smirked and nodded, patting Angela on the shoulder before teasingly flicking her horns, the things hollow but metallic and causing a slight little noise.

"They might not die, and they also don't play dress up. Let's get rid of this thing, huh?" Angela giggled a bit, nodding as she began to make her way towards the door, looking back and winking a bit at Jack.

"Say what you like Mr. Morrison, but I could feel your eyes the whole time I was in there!" The remark caught Jack off guard, leaving him speechless as the girl turned to walk out the door.

* * *

It would seem that Angela had not followed his order, as she was sitting in his spot with the costume worn, though she was missing the horns at least. Though it did raise the question as to why she was wearing it? He knew Gabriel was still alive somehow, but he hadn't seen any signs of him around the watch point. Could she be in contact with him? Why would she be showing her hand like this though, knowing that he would recognize the suit?

Jack sighed as he pushed off the bench he was sitting on, starting to make his way back to the command center, needing to clear his mind. It was times like this that made him wish he could contact some of the old members without giving himself away. He was sure that some of them would be able to help, or at least have some information. Though that would open up a whole can of worms that he wasn't ready to deal with just yet. His mind raced a bit before he felt an arm slipping through his own. Looking over he saw Ana smiling up at him.

"Never was one for parties, especially after all these years of quiet alone time."

She chuckled as they walked off, the pair going unnoticed by everyone save for Mercy. She swallowed a bit and clenched her hand into a slight fist before taking another drink and letting out a soft breath. The costume was meant to be an attention grabber and yet she had been snubbed by Jack once more.

She followed the pair as they slipped into the distance, her eyes soon refocusing and just happening to land on Fareeha. The woman looked beautiful, though Mercy couldn't think of a time she hadn't. She blinked a few times, her heart beating a bit quickly as she stood and made her way over to Fareeha with a wide smile and a bit too eager of a lean forward.

"Hello Fareeha, so very nice to see you again!" She happily chirped, her hands coming together in front of her like an excited child. Fareeha turned to face the woman with a smile of her own, nodding before speaking.

"I'm so glad to see you well Angela. I was so very worried about you when you had passed out and yet you weren't in the infirmary when I went this morning. But here you are, looking much happier than the last time we spoke!"

Fareeha had noted the change in clothing for the woman, slightly surprised at how bold the costume looked compared to the usual white. Whatever it took to make Angela happy though, as that's all she wanted for the woman.

"Well it's not like we didn't see each other before right now. You did find me after breakfast!" Mercy reminded Fareeha with a soft giggle, her cheeks getting a bit red from the memory.

Fareeha furrowed her brow a bit, before raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean Angela?"

The words sent a chill through Mercy as she looked at Fareeha, feeling a tinge of anger flare at the question.

"What? What do I mean?" Mercy felt her heart starting to beat a bit quicker, her breathing getting a bit ragged as she tried to explain.

"You... you found me outside of the kitchen... we... you... I mean..." The look on Fareeha's face was one of confusion, though in her current mindset, Mercy knew that Fareeha was lying.

"Stop it Fareeha, this isn't funny..." Mercy began to feel her mind growing cloudy once more, closing her eyes tightly to try and fight the familiar feeling of losing control.

"Angela... what's wrong with you? You aren't making any sense!" Fareeha stepped closer, fearing that her mere presence was causing this but she couldn't help but want to help the woman.

"STOP LYING!" Mercy screamed loudly, to no answer from Fareeha. Breathing heavily, she opened her eyes to find the world was a dull gray. She didn't have to guess as to what was going on, her thoughts soon racing as she grit her teeth.

'What did you do Anubis.' There was nothing but silence in her head, but she knew this feeling wasn't natural. Plus he had done this before, earlier this morning with Lena and Hana.

'ANSWER ME DAMMIT.'

 ** _'Yelling will get you nowhere Angela.'_** The voice was calmer than it had ever sounded before, though if Mercy could see his face, she knew he would be smirking to himself. She felt the hot tears starting to creep into the corner of her eyes, though they were of anger.

'What. Did. You. Do.' She spoke clearly to the AI, trying to calm herself as she remembered how confident she had been earlier when dealing with the thing.

 _ **'I saved you from yelling at Fareeha, I assumed you would appreciate that. Though I can see why you are angry with her. She didn't seem like the lying type, though perhaps she gets it from her mother?'**_

Mercy swallowed as she looked over Fareeha's face, the picture of Ana overlapping it for a split second and causing Mercy's stomach to tighten up a bit. As much as she hated to admit it, Anubis was right. Ana had lied about many things over the years so it was completely possible that Fareeha was the same way... but why would she lie about this?

 _ **'Or perhaps she needs time to figure out her feelings for you? She did just get her mother back and you two haven't seen each other in some time. Perhaps she is just confused and doesn't know how everyone would react.'**_

Once more the AI was making sense, Mercy slowly caressing Fareeha's face with her hand as she let a single tear fall down her face before wiping it away.

'We need to go, don't we? I've wasted enough time here. I'm tired of this place for the time being...'

 _ **'If you are ready, then we can leave whenever you want. Of course you are only inside your own head at the moment, I can't truly stop time. Though there is something I can give you instead. If you don't feel like trying to explain your sudden leave.'**_

Mercy looked around at the others, getting a good look at them all before turning back to face Fareeha and taking a deep breath, nodding softly.

'Whatever it takes to make this easier on them.'

 _ **'So be it.'**_

Mercy felt her mind racing suddenly, the fog seeming to lift as her hands began to radiate softly. A pain shot through her body as she felt something filling her body.

 _ **'** **Remain calm Angela. I'm just giving you a portion of my ability. Of course... I've never done this with a living human before...'**_

Mercy's eyes shut tight as the pain became rather excruciating, though she soon found the images behind her eyelids too bright and burning to keep them closed. As she opened her eyes, she noted the colors of the world had come back, Fareeha staring at her with that same confused look.

"Angela? Are you alright?"

Mercy smiled softly as she felt a fire burning in her body, though one of power she had never felt before. It quickly went to her head as her mind was filled with the AI's instructions on what to do.

"I've never felt better Fareeha. But I have something to do, please forgive me for this..."

Mercy clenched her fists, focusing on the power as it filled them, her eyes starting to glow brightly. She smirked as the AI held her back from using the full power he had, though part of her was already hungry to feel what that was like.

 _ **'In time Angela. For now, do as I said and let us go.'**_

"Angela...? What's going on?" Fareeha had stepped back now, guard up as she watched the woman start to glow brightly. The other had noticed as well, all confused as to what was exactly going on.

"Do no be afraid my dear, I will not harm you." Mercy raised her hands and brought them together, closing her eyes once more to focus on the people around her. She could see them even with her eyes closed, see their neurological makeup, the electricity shooting through their bodies. That was what she was going to stop, or at least slow for a few moments.

"Be safe Fareeha, I shall return soon enough. Do not follow me..." Mercy then let out a short and loud yell as her hands shot outwards, sending an unseen shock wave from her hands which hit everyone around her. All of their bodies hit the floor within seconds, out cold.

Mercy panted softly, exhausted from the sudden usage of energy it would seem. She slowly walked over and knelt down beside Fareeha, caressing her face once more with a soft smile.

"Sleep well, love."


	12. Taking Flight

Watching Fareeha and the others sleep soundly put Mercy at ease for the time being. She stared for a longer than she probably should have, though she knew there was no immediate threat if she stayed just a little bit. Her hand slowly ran along Fareeha's face, the memories of those younger years flooding into Mercy's mind. Such pain and heartache for such a small girl to have to live with. Mercy slowly stood as she felt the AI buzzing through her head, surprised he hadn't pushed her into moving yet.

 _ **"If we could go, that would be great. Unless you would like to stick around and explain to everyone about how you just magically gained super powers..."**_

Mercy sighed softly before nodding, quickly making her way from the scene and to her room. She wasn't planning on switching outfits, though she wasn't about to go anywhere without at least her pistol. She took in the sight of her room, not knowing exactly how long this trip would take her or if she would even have a place to come back to when she was finished. Her eyes came across one of the old pictures she had on a clothes drawer, picking it up and smiling to herself.

It was one of the few pictures that had the old team together and not at each other's throats in one way or another. She remembered this time, the happiness they all shared and the work they managed to complete. She popped the back of the frame off and folded the picture in half. Quickly unzipping her suit, Mercy placed it right along the inside, the old picture cool against her chest before she zipped back up. With nothing else to grab she made her way to the door, activating the room's defenses and locking the room up as she left.

Her walk was more of a jog to the hanger, her ears perking up at every noise in case Jack and Ana had found the others and were looking for her now. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself as she soon found herself among the ships that they had managed to keep even after the government had come to take everything they considered theirs. She looked over them all, though most of what was left were the larger ships which were meant for a team and not just a single person.

Luckily she knew where Lena kept her personal ship, the plucky pilot having hid it rather well from any prying eyes. Though a few late nights had led to some wonderful conversations, which led to Lena showing off where she had kept the ship hidden all this time.

Mercy felt her lips curl into a small smile as she thought about the girl, trying to keep her mind from sinking into the negative side of the current situations. Running her hand along the smooth wall, she closed her eyes to feel for the small... little...

 _click_

The wall creaked open as Mercy began to push and pull the secret little passage open. It had always surprised Mercy how this was able to be hidden, considering the ship wasn't too small, and had enough room to take off from here. The long hallway leading to pitch black nothingness made Mercy a bit uneasy, though she knew that she could open the doors down there.

 _ **'Okay, so... you know how to fly this thing, correct?'**_

"Nooooo, I was just going to get in and pray that you knew how to!"

 _ **'Well excuse me for just checking. You seem to make up things on the fly more often than not.'**_

"That almost sounds as if you're scared. I thought the big, bad Anubis wasn't scared of anything?"

 _ **'Do you want to get rid of me or not?'**_

"Oh trust me, I can't wait to be rid of you."

Mercy slowly walked over to the ship and was soon opening the cockpit, slipping inside and looking over the controls in order to get reacquainted with them. After about a minute she had the ship fired up and prepping for launch.

"Good afternoon Angela. Where can I take you on this beautiful day?"

Mercy had completely forgotten about the ship's AI, a modified version of Athena that Lena had had Winston install in case she had needed to take a break or charge her chronal accelerator while she was piloting for whatever reason. The female voice coming through was strange though, sounding more human than Athena usually did. Had Lena modded in a new voice?

'Where are we going?' Mercy thought to herself and as such the AI.

 _ **'Numbani.**_ ** _'_**

'Really?'

 _ **'Why would I lie to you about this?'**_

'Just seems like a strange place, though I suppose your temple isn't much of an option hm?'

The AI was silent, though Mercy could feel him giving her a glare. Perhaps she was being a bit too harsh, but then she remembered what she had been put through plus the fact that the AI had done this to himself, so he had nobody to blame.

"Angela?" The female voice filled the cockpit, pulling Mercy back out of her head.

"Ah yes, er... Athena? I'm heading to Numbani, if you would be so kind."

"Of course! A lovely place to visit. Oh and please, call me Emily!"

Mercy nodded before pressing a few last buttons and getting buckled in, making sure everything was properly adjusted to make the initial push of flight as smooth as possible. About that time she would see red light starting to flash rapidly, a loud siren echoing through the hall.

"WE ARE GOING ON LOCK DOWN. IF ANYONE SEES ANGELA, STOP HER IMMEDIATELY. THAT IS AN ORDER!"

The voice was Jack's, the anger in his voice obvious as he yelled into the comm system. She thought she had given herself more time, though it would seem that he and Ana had found the others, or he had been watching the cameras at any given time.

"Shit. Er, Emily, could we go ahead and leave now? I really need to get to where I'm going..."

"I'm so sorry Angela. I wish I could, but it would seem that the watchpoint is going into a lock down, which means I have lost any permissio- **zzzt** "

The female voice was gone, the blue display starting to flood with red as Angela found her hand on the console. When had she...?

 _ **'We don't have time for this, I'm taking this ship over and overriding it all. If there is one person who won't be stopping me, it's Jack FUCKING Morrison...'**_

Mercy felt her stomach getting knotted a bit as she heard the anger in Anubis' voice, her head buzzing and starting to burn slightly as she also imagined the look on Jack's face as he was surely running his way here now. She swallowed a bit, her breathing getting quick as the rush of adrenaline hit her veins again. She was really doing this. She was running away in order to help this rogue AI in some way. How was he going to be taken from her and who was going to be taking him anyway? What sort of friends did this thing have? The adrenaline mixed with fear now as Mercy began to feel herself growing a little hot, her breathing a bit labored.

"I want out."

 ** _'What?'_**

"Let. Me. Out. NOW."

The AI began to laugh as Mercy found her hands moving on their own, the things working quickly over the ship's console as the jets on the small ship began to fire up loudly. Mercy gritted her teeth as she tried to pull her hands away, her arms feeling like she had been laying on them funny, the tingling doing nothing but annoying her more.

"STOP THIS NOW."

Jack's voice filled the cockpit, Mercy's head snapping to the side as she saw him standing in the doorway, staring her down with a look that she had only ever seen once before. The fire in his eyes, the scowl on his lips. She could tell right then and there that she made a mistake.

The ship was ready, the console flashing brightly as Mercy looked into the eyes of the man she had been trying to get closer to for so long, feeling her heart breaking a bit as she knew this was probably the last time she would be seeing him as a friend.

As the ship began to push away slowly, Mercy could feel something coming over her entire body. Her eyes grew hazy, lids starting to droop. She blinked a few times, trying to hold off what she knew to be the AI's control over her now. It was of little use, the woman feeling her head growing heavy as she looked at Jack one last time.

"I'm sorry, Jack.." was the last thing she got out before succumbing to the darkness of sleep.


	13. Bye Ayy Eye

_**"Rise and shine Angela, time to greet the new and wonderful day."**_

The AI's voice made Mercy clutch her head in pain, her breathing already erratic as she slowly opened her eyes to the brightness of the sun bearing down on her. How had they gotten here so quickly? Or had it taken longer than she imagined? She had no real indication of time's passage but she knew that she had to get out of this damned ship. Doing her best to stand, Mercy looked around at where she had ended up. She was only partially thankful that the AI had been able to deliver them safely to their destination. A bigger part of her had hoped the ship would have crashed, if only to end this nightmare of a life she was currently living through. Her hand clutched the side of the ship tightly as she crawled over it, landing on her feet but wobbling a slight bit as her equilibrium felt strangely off.

"What... is going on?" She muttered out loud, looking around and getting a sense for where she was. She had only seen Numbani a few times in her life, mainly for relaxation purposes. The place was well known for it's equal rights for both man and omnic, the city having flourished during the crises while many had suffered through the turmoils.

 _ **"Whatever do you mean Angela? We arrived at our destination. You must have fallen asleep on the way here."**_ The AI's voice was rather calm and collected, though there was an edge in his words. Mercy did her best not to question his seemingly limited memory of what had truly transpired, giving the answer she had received little thought so the AI wouldn't take her over once more. As much as she wanted to fight back, there wasn't anything she could truly do if the thing could just control her body at any given moment. She took a deep breath as she began to walk, her feet seeming to know where they were going all on their own, a sense of direction filling her head. It was growing obvious that the AI was just as eager to get free of her as she was of it, though the subtle hints without any real answers were starting to grow old.

"Where are we going? Who are we meeting? How are they going to even get you out of my head?" Every question grew a bit more hostile, the need for answers the only thing driving the woman at this point. She was trying to stay focused and not remember what she had done before they had left. She had already been tricked by the AI once now, how many other things had he simply thrown into her head to try and keep her compliant? It now dawned on her that she had given herself to the AI in order to leave the way she had. She smacked herself in the head as she realized that it was that that allowed the thing to take over her body.

"Also, no smart remarks about that?" She added in after all of these realizations, noting that the AI hadn't chimed in to take any cheap shots about how easily she had been manipulated in a time of weakness.

 _ **"For what Angela? Asking questions? No no, we're so very close to being rid of each other that I find no real pleasure in such things. In fact, I think I'm gonna miss you!"**_ The voice was obviously sarcastic, causing Mercy to groan a bit as she shook her head. He had avoided the first few questions, though she had been given an answer in what he had said. A small smirk came to her lips as she let her mind wander with thoughts.

Thoughts of who she had left, what she had done, though the anger inside her soon took over these thoughts. They turned into stomping the AI into dirt, blowing him up, crushing him in any possible way she could. She waited for some sort of response, though nothing ever came. Was she finally free of him in her thoughts? She wasn't quite sure how, but even in this dark time the ability to have her private thoughts all to herself once more made the woman smile a tad. She noted that she had stopped walking, looking up to the large building that they had been brought to by the AI's control over her legs. Mercy instantly recognized the place as a very large attraction here in Numbani. The museum had been a rather wonderful place to visit, with more than it's fair share of interesting exhibits over the years. They had even borrowed a few items from Overwatch over the years, though many things were kept around once Overwatch had officially been shut down.

"A museum? Here I thought you knew everything!" Mercy quipped with a slight chuckle, though her joy was short lived as she picked something up from behind her. She had thankfully attached her pistol to her hip, allowing her to whip around and point it directly in the face of... Amelie?

"A-Amelie? What... what are you doing here?" Mercy looked over the blue toned woman, her expression the now usual scowl of seriousness. The woman seemed rather casually dressed, her hair down along her back, her high tech visor missing from her head at the moment.

 _ **"Oh Amelie! So glad you could join us my dear, I take it you found the area easy enough?"**_ Why was the AI talking to the woman as if she could hear him? Mercy slowly put her gun down, though her finger was still on the trigger out of caution. Something wasn't right about this.

"Angela, so very nice to see you once again. Anubis, not so much for you. Can we get this over with? I have things to do..." Amelie sighed as she stepped closer to Mercy, taking her hair and pulling it over one shoulder as she turned around. A large red mark was easily visible on the back of her neck, the same as...

"Wait... he did this to you too? When? How?" Mercy put her pistol away as she got closer, looking over the mark rather inquisitively. Amelie scowled a bit harder and pulled away, scoffing as she put her hair back the way it was.

"Don't touch me. We have nothing but this in common and you should remember that." The words were cold as Amlie continued, though talking to Anubis this time around.

"Why didn't you tell her? I know the half inside me certainly wouldn't shut up about it."

 _ **"My dear Amelie, there was no reason to tell Angela here, she was already all in a tizzy as it was. Anyway, yes. Both of you have a half of my system inside your noggins. So we take them out of each of you and put them back into a nice little chip or something and lookie there, I'm out of your hair!"**_ The AI was talking like a giddy schoolgirl about all this, like it was some sort of experiment or just another day in the park for him.

 _ **"I take it you also brought your little friend along, dear Amelie?"**_ Mercy froze in her place as she heard this. She only knew of one other person Amelie worked with.

"No... not Ga-" She was cut off by the sudden realization that someone was behind her now, her breathing picking up it's pace as she hovered her hand over her pistol in anticipation to fight if need be.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you doc. Last time I checked, you don't have the best track record with sewing people back up, heh..." The voice made Mercy both tense and relaxed at the same time. While it wasn't Gabriel, the voice was from an unknown source. Slowly she put her hands up and turned around to find herself face to face with a hispanic woman, who couldn't be much older than Lena. She wore a rather strange purple outfit, the gun in her hand painted to match with a silly looking little skull sprayed onto it. Mercy sized up the girl, wondering what in the world she was even doing here. Her expression was soon soured as the girl pulled away and laughed openly at the obvious fear that Mercy was currently experiencing.

"Hey now doc, don't look so tense! If we were gonna hurt ya, you'd know it by now, right?" The girl smiled and put her gun away, her left hand coming up and tapping at a few suddenly appearing tiles. Mercy was soon looking at herself, or at least, her file. How had she...?

"Angela Ziegler, also known as Mercy. Mercy huh? Weird title considering what Gabe says about you..." The file was swept away quickly as the girl walked past Mercy and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry though, I've been doing stuff like this for ages. I'm more than practiced." The girl walked over to Amelie and tried to pat her shoulder as well, only to be quickly dodged and scowled at.

"You're only here because we couldn't have anyone else do this sort of thing without it being reported. Understand? ...Sombra!" The girl had looked away and was already messing with files once more as she was scolded, her eyebrows rising as she looked back at Amelie with a shit eating smirk.

"Oh, yeah. Super secret, don't tell anyone, hush hush, got it..." The girl had brought up a small screen that had a very memorable face to it. That of the AI.

"Anubis huh? Sounds like a big jerk, but hey, not my place to judge is it?" Sombra smiled and soon sat down right in the middle of the plaza, waving at both women to join her, patting spots beside her on each side.

"Come now ladies, don't be shy! I don't bite!"

Mercy and Amelie looked one another, both scowling at each other a bit before joining the girl on the ground, being scooted around to where they were back to back, far enough apart so that neither could complain about resting on the other. Sombra was soon tapping away at her hologram tiles, swiping and fluidly typing away at whatever it was she had to do.

"Oohhhhkay now ladies... this might sting just a bit, depending on just how madly in love with this adorable little AI you are!" She snickered as she touched the women on their marks, her sharp nails digging into each ever so slightly, causing both women to flinch in pain for a second.

 _ **"Ah, well my dear Angela it has been quite fun. But I suppose it is time for me to finally leave you. Just remember everything I taught you. Oh and perhaps you should join up with these guys? They seem like a better fit for you, and that's totally not because everyone with Overwatch probably hates you or anything like that. After going through your mind a dozen or so times, I'm sure that if you apologize enough to Gabriel, he would forgive you. Well, maybe I could talk to him about it, since we're going to be getting to know each other rather well anyway!"**_

Mercy felt her heart sink as the AI spoke so eagerly about meeting up with Gabriel. Had this been the plan? How had he even gotten into contact with Gabriel? Obviously he could have used Amelie to speak for him but Mercy hadn't seen Gabe in such a long time and she doubted that he spent too much time with Amelie outside of any kind of mission they might have had. Even then, it had only been a few days or so since this had happened. Mercy's mind raced as she felt her heart starting to beat faster and faster, her breathing picking up.

"Ey, calm down lady, I know it can't hurt that badly!" Sombra complained openly as she worked, her lips pursed as a small screen slowly filled up with the data of Anubis, already close to completely full.

 _ **"One last thing before I leave Angela."**_ The AI sounded as though he had been holding something back this entire time, though he also seemed slightly giddy to admit whatever it was. The next line was whispered and echoed in Mercy's mind.

 _ **"Fareeha never kissed you.**_ _ **"**_

With that, the cloud in Mercy's mind was lifted, her body going limp and falling back against Amelie as the exertion from the past day or so finally hit her like a truck. She had been sleeping so much, passing out so many times that this almost felt natural now.

"Err, ey Amy... your girl here is passing out..." Sombra looked over Mercy, snapping her fingers and poking at her cheeks. Amelie sighed and shook her head at the name she was called.

"You know my name, say it properly. Also, I don't really care. We have what Gabe wanted, we need to leave. She'll be fine on her own." The cold words from Amelie were starting to grow fuzzy and warbled as Mercy began to drift off, her mind racing with what the AI had said but her body shutting down from the sheer inability to deal with the stress of what had just been pulled from her. She was surprised that her lungs still worked, each breath long and drawn out in order to get as much air as possible. A gravely voice was the last thing she heard before passing out once more.

 **"Bring her inside, Widow."**


	14. Past, Present, and Possiblities

Mercy knew she was asleep. She could feel her body being moved against her will, being drug and tugged on to who knows where. Yet she couldn't seem to fight the willpower to wake up, to fight back. What was the point of it? She had nothing else to look forward to. Sure she was rid of Anubis now, but where did that leave her? She had betrayed and abandoned any and all friends she could imagine, knowing that none of them would bother coming to save her. Would they come to try and take her down though? Her mind wandered with scenarios of what might happen if Jack and the others did find out where she had ended up, seeing their reactions to her body just laying in the middle of nowhere.

"Angela..."

Mercy's mind became blank as the voice entered her head. A chill took a hold of her as she instantly imagined that somehow the AI was still there but as the voice continued, her body relaxed and began to warm slightly.

"Angela, I need you to wake up. I need you to fight. You may be alone, but you will never be without those who care for you."

The voice was familiar, though in her addled state Mercy couldn't put a face or name to it. She did her best to ask questions, to think of something to say to the voice in order to get some kind of help. All she could think of was the failures she had been through and caused these past few days. How could she have let all of this happen? She had been of no use during the mission at Anubis' temple. The junkers and Mei had done everything. Hell she was the only one that had been truly hurt, only reinforcing the feelings of uselessness.

"Angela, please. You are a savior. You save people. You saved me."

Saved? The voice was becoming more familiar as time went on, fragments of a face and name starting to slowly trail across the back of Mercy's eyelids as her mind focused more on this puzzle and less on her current problems. She knew the voice, the person it belonged to. It was on the tip of her tongue, but just out of reach.

"You need to wake up Angela, you need to remember what you were to me, what you are to the others that you swore to protect."

A nightmarish flash filled Mercy's head. She remembered now, the voice and the person behind it. She felt her heart break as the picture she had in her mind didn't match the pleasant tone of the voice. What she saw was what she had seen during her walking nightmares. A broken body, covered in blood and stuck with arrows.

Genji.

"Angela please, you did nothing wrong. I am who I am today thanks to you. If it weren't for you I would have died that day. I do not blame you for anything you have done. In fact, I wanted to thank you."

Thank her? All Mercy had done was ruin a perfectly good man and his body, instead forcing him into a life of solitude and living with a mostly mechanical body. How was that something she could be thanked for? As she mulled this over, she began to realize that the voice in her head had to be something of her own imagination. There was no way that Genji could do something like this, even with all those ninja abilities and whatnot that he had told her about during their missions together. The boy had always done whatever he could to impress her, whether it was running up walls or deflecting bullets that were coming right at him. She remembered the one time he had miscalculated and missed one of her bullets. Thankfully she had been aiming for his arm, the thing grazing his shoulder just enough to teach him a lesson.

She felt herself smiling softly, the sleep over her body starting to lessen it's hold as she remembered the good times with him. She had looked up to him in a way, the boy having told her about the way his family was. He had been so strong through such a life, his brother...

Hanzo had tried to kill him. That was what Genji's help had led to. The once carefree boy had become the target of assassination by his own family. Mercy remembered the day they brought the boy in, her eyes unable to look away even though she wanted to just scream at them all. They had done this to him and now they wanted her to do something more. She hadn't even been sure of her ability. She had only given a few replacements limbs to various members over the years, but nothing like this. She had never been given the task of bringing someone back form the brink of death. She couldn't do something like that.

"But you did Angela."

The voice rang clear in her mind, the woman calming down once more as the soothing voice of the boy filled her head. She had done it, hadn't she? She had saved the boys life. Given him a chance to live where others had wanted to see him gone.

"You gave me a second chance to see the world Angela. I have never forgotten this and I live each day proudly now. Thanks to you and my new master. I have become a new man."

The wonderful thought of Genji being happy filled Mercy's head and body with a new feeling. It was a mixture of pride and adoration. She was still confused as to how her mind was making this stuff up, though she cared less about the way it was working with each new image of Genji succeeding at his new life. If he could do such things, then why couldn't she? She was tired of being afraid, being scared of what might happen. She was going to make a difference. All she had to do was open her eyes.

"That's it Angela, just wake up. I will be there shortly to..."

The woman opened her eyes suddenly, before the man could finish his sentence. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the bright lights that were shining all over the place. She sat up quickly, looking around to find nobody around. Her head hurt a bit, along with her back. Had they literally drug her to where she was? Her hair was a bit messy as she pulled it into a quick ponytail, not caring if she still had the mark from the AI on her neck. He was gone, it was just her now. But she could do this. Nothing could keep her from fixing things. First things first though.

Where the hell was she?

She began to slowly walk around, pistol drawn in case she had uninvited guests make an appearance. Her eyes darted from thing to thing, putting pieces together in her mind. She had to still be in Numbani, as the sun was still brightly shining and led her to assume she had only been out for a few minutes, possibly an hour tops. She made her way out of the small room, which had to have been a closet of some sort. Looking up and down the hallway, she began to hear voices coming from somewhere nearby, her senses alert as she softly shut the door behind her and ever so slowly crept towards the source of the noise. Coming to a corner, she crouched down low and peeked around to see if she could make anything out.

Her eyes widened a bit as she saw Amelie and her new friend, Sombra was it? They stood with their backs to her while a third person was further in the room. A tall, black clad figure, staring over a glass casing. Mercy couldn't tell what was inside the glass but she knew that it had to be something important if it had the focus of Talon. The woman pulled her head back to take a few deep breaths. What was she supposed to do now? There was no way she could take all three of them. She hadn't seen Amelie with her weapon, but she had been up close and personal with Sombra's and the girl didn't seem like the kind to be against putting holes in people who startled her. That and she had no idea what the last person could be hiding under that massive coat. She did her best to calm herself, listening to the three of them talk among themselves. She didn't focus on anything in particular as they spoke, her mind focus on hoping she had some form of communicator still a part of this attire.

The red, skin tight suit had been mostly for show when she had first worn it, but in her free time she had added some necessary things in order to make it much more than just a suit for sexual appeal. The suit had been updated each time Mercy had a grand plan for something new that might help. Obviously armor in vital areas to make sure she stayed alive in case her target was immune to her advances. She had added some wings to it, though they weren't as flashy as her Overwatch and government approve suit. She shook her head a bit as she noticed the tail was still there, wondering why she hadn't gotten rid of it when she had also removed the horns. As she thought about it, she remembered exactly why she hadn't done such a thing. Her hand pressed at the base of the tail softly, the thing falling off with a soft thud. Inside laid a hidden phone, one that she desperately needed at this point in time.

She looked back around the corner to check on her new friends, all of them still standing and chatting. What were they doing or waiting on? It didn't matter, as she had things to deal with. Taking the hidden phone into her hand, she dialed in a few buttons, marking the code for the emergency line to Overwatch. She heard Amelie and Sombra mentioning something about getting their new toy, her eyes darting back to notice they were walking towards her.

"Shit..." she mumbled, before dialing in the last few buttons to keep the phone going as an emergency beacon. Hopefully it still worked and hopefully someone would come. She tucked the thing back into the tail and kicked it into the shadows, under a tall display that was covered up. She then stood and put her pistol away, stretching and yawning loudly as she walked around the corner to meet Amelie and Sombra.

"Good morning ladies, where are... we?" Mercy was cut short on greetings as a gun was put in her face once more, the young hacker girl staring her down.

"Why are you out here?" Sombra questioned before Amelie pulled the girl's gun down with a sigh.

"Sombra, stop pointing your gun at people, especially those who help us with the plan. She wouldn't be able to handle any of us, let alone all three of us alone. She's just a medic." Amelie's cold words stung slightly, though Mercy merely nodded as she bit her tongue.

"I wouldn't dare try anything, I mean, you've pointed your gun at me twice now so I doubt I'd be quicker on the draw than you!" Mercy did her best to smile, hoping that the fakeness of it didn't shine through too brightly. The girl put her gun down and scoffed, waving off the two others rather dismissively.

"Whatever, you all are no fun anyway. This whole mission is so boring!" The gilr sighed as she walked towards the black clad body standing in the distance, the being still having not moved from the spot since Mercy had first seen them.

"Yo Gabe, when are we leaving? This place is waaaaay more dull than you said it would be and I don't think your plan is working too well!"

Mercy froze, her eyes boring into the back of that tall figure. Had Sombra just said...

 **"This IS the plan."**

"No... it... it can't be..." Mercy began to mutter to herself, Amelie noting the shaken look on the woman's face before smirking softly.

"Oh my dear little angel, what's wrong? You look as though you've seen a ghost." The tone in which Amelie was speaking was rather uncharacteristic, though Mercy was visibly more worried about the man clad in black.

"YOU WERE DEAD. WE ALL MOURNED YOU!" Mercy screamed at the figure, her cheeks stained with tears once more. She of all people should have known that death meant little when it came to Overwatch, with funerals meaning even less. Jack had been alive for all this time now, so why was it so hard to believe that Gabriel had survived as well?

The figure raised it's head, turning slightly to face Mercy now. She was taken aback as she saw the black clad figure was strapped with ammunition, his face covered by.. a skull mask?

 **"Gabriel died, you saw to that. But don't fret Angela, for what you brought into this world is something much greater than Gabriel."**

The voice was so distorted and yet Mercy knew that it was Gabriel under the mask, there was no hiding that fact from her. Was this some sort of sick joke? What was he doing with Amelie and Sombra? Why was he wearing that old outfit? He could of course ask her the same thing, which only made the thought of him being evil sting more.

A sudden rush of anger swept over Mercy as she darted at the man, clenching her jaw and her fists, ready to punch him until he saw reason.

"YOU BASTARD!"

Her first punch was easily caught by the man, sapping the fury from anything else she could have mustered up. She was breathing heavily, staring into the empty darkness of eye holes before she shouted once more.

"IF YOU'RE GOING TO LIE, LIE TO MY FACE GABRIEL!"

The man chuckled almost sadistically before reaching up and grasping the mask and taking it off slowly to reveal his face.

Mercy felt her stomach drop as she saw first hand at what she had done to the man. It was just like in her nightmares, yet somehow even worse. He looked to be long dead, though there was no decomposing. His face was ghostly white, his lips a pale blue from what Mercy had to assume was from the lack of oxygenated blood pumping through him. More than anything, she saw her failure. Compared to bringing back genji, Gabriel had been a different story.

"I... I'm sor-"

 **"I don't want your pity or apologies Angela."** The man's words were sudden and harsh in tone, the woman unable to look at him any longer.

 **"I want something else."** He pulled her up from where Mercy had slumped from the draining of her fury just seconds ago. He put the mask back on before continuing, though his actions seemed strange and out of place considering their interactions so far. His claw covered hands grazed along her cheeks and neck, her warmth scorching his ice cold body. In that moment, he felt like the Gabriel she remembered. The rough around the edges, but caring Gabriel.

 **"Join me Angela."**


	15. Breakthrough

The words rang through Mercy's head like a bell. He what?

"I, uhm..." Mercy was totally taken aback by the sudden offering from Gabriel. First he runs away, then he starts a fight with whoever is left in Overwatch by being a part of this Talon group and NOW he wants friends? Mercy stared at the white skull mask, her face a bit blank as she tried to process just what she wanted to say. She was scared that if she said the wrong thing, the man would end up killing her here and now. Though he had had the chance to do so for some time now and he hadn't. Perhaps he wasn't as dark and evil as he made himself out to be?

"Wh...why should I Gabe?" Mercy pushed herself out of the man's grip, standing a bit more straight to come off as more confident in her decision to not simply just bend to his will.

"Why would I want to join you after everything you've done to us?" She stared into those black holes that he called eyes, her breathing a bit quick, though she was doing her best to stay calm.

Gabriel took a deep breath and turned around without answering, walking away from the woman and towards a large, covered display. He stopped at the front of the drape reaching up and gripping it tightly before pulling the thing off quickly to reveal what was under it.

Mercy's eyes were drawn from the back of the black hood to the display, her eyes growing a bit wide as she realized what was waiting under the drape.

"No... when did you get that? They should have been keeping a better eye on it!" Mercy's heart was beating rather quickly, her mind racing with how Gabriel had come to acquire Doomfist's gauntlet.

" **You'd be surprised how few secrets can be kept when you break a man's ribs...** " Gabriel said coldly, his claw like hand running along the glass case that was home to the gauntlet. Mercy didn't even have to see his face to know that the man was fawning over the power that the gauntlet was said to possess. Mercy had only heard stories herself, though Winston had taken on one iteration of Doomfist by himself and won, which had led to the gauntlet being held as it was.

"What does this have to do with me? How does that damned thing being here change my mind?" Mercy's words were like fire as she spat at the man, growing angrier with each word and breath.

" **My dear Angela. I have a plan to eradicate the nuisance that is Overwatch, the nuisance that is Jack Morrison and his lackeys.** " Gabriel turned to look at the woman, once again removing his mask before continuing, allowing Mercy to see his withered face. His look was sincere, catching Mercy off guard as he softly smiled.

" **You were one of the only ones who understood. You understood that sometimes, you had to do whatever it took to make progress. You had to do** ** _anything_** **to get what you needed.** " The man turned around, pulling the hood back so that Mercy could see his face completely, the light only worsening how he looked, though also making him seem much more like the Gabriel she remembered.

" **We are similar in that respect Angela and I always respected you for it. With this gauntlet, I can correct the mistakes that we made back then. I can kill off the cancer that is killing this world. But I can't do it alone, as much as I would love to...** " He looked back at the gauntlet, his claws scratching down the glass rather loudly and annoyingly.

" **I need someone as my second in command. Widow is just a gun. Sombra? A punk with talent. But you...** " Gabriel smiled to himself as he started to make his way back towards the woman, his face softening the closer her got to her.

" **You are the rational to my irrational, you are the kindness to my rage. An angel and the Reaper. We can do anything it takes to make this world perfect, in our image!** " The man was starting to ramble a bit, with Mercy rather speechless. He had never talked this much back in the day, or with such emotion. She had always felt as though he saw her in a different light, his longing gazes not going unseen. She had paid them no mind, her focus on different things back then.

"Gabriel, I..." Mercy was lost in thought, wanting her hardest to help Gabriel, but this wasn't the way. She couldn't begin to think of what the man had in mind when he talked of shaping the world. She agreed that there were some things wrong, but violence couldn't be the answer. Violence only caused more violence. People were always out for blood and as much as Gabriel wanted to say he was above it all, his first mission was to eliminate Jack. Mercy hung her head, shaking it with growing sadness as she realized there was no way she could accept Gabriel's offer. She couldn't live with herself if it meant hurting anyone she cared for. Even if they weren't coming for her after the things she had done.

"I... I can't Gabe. Please.. please just stop this." Mercy felt the hot sting of tears creeping at the corner of her eyes, her breathing starting to get caught in her throat as she looked back up at the man.

"JUST STOP IT! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO KILL THEM? WHY CAN'T YOU BOTH JUST MOVE ALONG AND GET OVER IT?" Mercy's breathing was heavy and labored now, the fire in her belly coming back as she continued her screaming.

"JACK HAS MOVED ON, DID YOU KNOW THAT? OR IS THAT WHY YOU'RE SO PISSED AT HIM? HUH? BECAUSE HE MOVED ON? BECAUSE HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOU LIKE YOU THOUGHT HE DID? BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT THAT YOU TWO HAD SOMETHING AND THEN IT ALL JUST FELL APART?" Mercy stared at the man, his face showing little emotion, before he smiled softly at her.

" **Wow... you were right. She is chock full of self loathing.** "

Mercy paused, her face scrunching a little as she grew confused. Who was he talking to? She turned to find Sombra and Amelie staring at her after her little outburst, the two of them far enough back that they wouldn't have heard anything before hand. A slight fog came over her thoughts, her body shivering in response. Her hands began to shake as she looked back at Gabriel.

"Wh... who are you talking to Gabe?" Her eyes twitched a bit as she searched his body for any sign of a mark like her and Amelie had on their necks.

" **No need to worry about that my dear, though I think it's about time we move on with my plan.** "

Gabriel turned back around quickly, walking towards the glass display case, before rearing back and punching the glass with all his might. The shattering of glass filled the room as the gauntlet fell to the base of the case, ready for the taking. Mercy's body was frozen in place as her eyes came over what she had been dreading. A large mark on the back of Gabriel's neck.

"G-gabe... Let's just leave, we can work something out. Anything you want, okay?" Mercy pleaded as best she could with the man as he took the gauntlet from the broken glass, shaking it off a bit before slipping it snugly over his hand.

A low humming noise would fill Mercy's ears as the gauntlet was fully placed over Gabriel's hand, the thing seeming to be a perfect fit, though it made his forearm look twice the size. The man would move his arm around slightly, wiggling the fingers before clenching his fist tightly, the gauntlet starting to glow.

" **I've waited so long for this. The... powerrrr.** "

Gabriel growled and chuckled to himself, walking to the nearby wall and placing his knuckles against the large and smooth surface. He reared back once more, slamming the gauntlet against the wall with what the others could tell was quite a bit of force. A few seconds passed before a loud cracking sound could be heard, the smooth surface quickly becoming cracked and deformed, a massive chunk of the wall shooting towards the street on the other side.

Mercy's eyes went wide with shock as she watched the display of power. She had no idea that someone like Gabriel could even control the gauntlet, let alone cause such damage so quickly. She was trying to think of a way to get him away from the gauntlet, but she knew that even at her strongest she was no match for him. She couldn't imagine anyone could stop the man now. Their only chance was together, but she had no clue as to whether Jack and the others had even gotten her message.

Gabriel stood in awe of his new power, smiling like he hadn't smiled in so many years. He basked in the warmth of the sun as he brought his left hand and ran it over the mark on his neck, whispering to himself.

" **I have the gauntlet, our plan can move forward. But first, it's time for your end of the bargain.** "

The gauntlet glowed brightly, before the light began to cover Gabriel's body from head to toe slightly, almost causing him to shimmer in the light. Mercy found herself unable to look away, wondering what was going on now, afraid to pipe up in case it wasn't anything good. She gulped a bit as the glow faded, Gabriel turning back around to face the woman. Her eyes became glued to his face, searching every inch in disbelief.

He was... normal again.

His skin was that soft tone that she remembered, his eyes piercing as they gazed back at her. How had he...?

"I'm so glad to see you again Angela. I feel as though it has been far too long since we saw each other like this."

His voice was back to normal, the growl that had resided in his chest seeming to have cleared up thanks to whatever he had done. The man removed his black hood as he made his way back towards Mercy, his eyes barely leaving hers. When they did, it was to glance back at Sombra and Amelie, who were both rather stunned at what the saw before them. As he reached Mercy, Gabriel ran his hand along the woman's cheek.

"Gabriel... how... what did..." She was lost for words. She had only tested the abilities of reconstruction on human tissue, she had never seen such magnificent work like this. Her hands reached out and grabbed his face, more out of scientific curiosity than anything else. It was real, every inch of it. It was warm, the flow of blood obvious as his lips weren't faded and blue. She had almost forgotten about what he done to the wall not a minute ago.

"Yo Gabe, lookin' good! You been hiding under a mask this whole time or what?" Sombra piped up as she and Amelie made their way closer, the younger girl a bit more stuck on the man than the emotionless assassin.

"We can talk about that later. Now though, we need to move onto the next step of our plan..." Gabriel pulled away from Mercy's grasp and held up the gauntlet with a smirk.

"With this, nothing can stand in our way. With Angela with us, we have nothing to fear." The man had seemingly forgotten that Mercy hadn't said yes, Angela about to pipe up when a loud voice filled the room.

 **"Ryūjin no ken wo kurae!"**


	16. Sparrow vs Death, Round Two

The powerful yell was one that Mercy remembered as a battle cry, one that belonged to none other than Genji Shimada. She had no idea why he was here but a part of her lit up as he saw the flash of steel coming from above. As her head jerked upwards, she got her first full look at the man who she was hoping was here to rescue her from Gabriel and his little gang. He was mostly the same, the suit he wore the same white and silver getup that he had been given after the surgeries and other work to keep him alive. What would have been pangs of regret and sorrow, fueled by what Mercy had done to the boy, were instead ones of pride and hope. If it had not been for her doing what she had done, the man she was looking upon wouldn't be here. She would have been without any form of savior. What soon struck Mercy as odd was an aura that now surrounded the man. He looked to be on fire, or at least, his eyes and blade were soaked and emanating a bright green charge. She could feel pressure being applied to her body from the force that the man was applying as he came closer, the end of his blade sticking straight down and aiming for Gabriel's head.

Time seemed to slow as Genji got closer, Mercy hearing the sounds of Amelie and Sombra readying their weapons behind her. Gabriel seemed to be unfazed though. His face did not show any signs of fear, anger, or even remote unhappiness. It made Mercy uneasy to look at him, her eyes unable to pull away as she waited for what she knew was coming. The sound of steel piercing Gabriel's skull and brain. She wasn't sure as to the exact angle that Genji was coming in at, but there was no way that she was getting out of this without a bit of blood on her suit. As her body tensed up to prepare for what she assumed was coming, her eyes flickered down at the slight movement of Gabriel's covered hand.

Suddenly Gabriel spun to face the attacker, his left arm cocking into position and releasing that gauntlet covered fist directly into Genji's gut. The cyborg realizing that he couldn't stop himself from falling forward in time to dodge. The sound of air being knocked from his lungs, mixed with the slight pang of metal smashing into the rebuilt body was slightly sickening, mercy unable to look away as she watched Genji go flying towards the other end of the room.

"GABRIEL STOP!" She pleaded as she turned her focus back to the man, his smile wider than before, psychotic and hungry for more chance to prove his power. He took a deep breath and whistled to himself as he began to walk towards the still grounded cyborg.

"Little Sparrow Shimada. I never would have thought that a crybaby like you would ever have the stones to kill a man. Let alone in such a cheap fashion. Forgive me if I don't applaud your sloppy efforts." Gabriel smirked as he waited for Genji to stand back up at least, obviously toying with the would be assassin.

"Do not act as though you know me Reyes. We were never comrades and we will only be enemies for a very short time." The cyborg brought his blade back up to position, still emanating that green aura as he charged headfirst at his target.

"Oh come now Genji, are you really this slow a learner?" Gabriel brought his hands up, seemingly preparing for a hand to hand fight as the gauntlet glowed in response to Genji's blade doing the same.

Mercy felt her mind growing hazy as she watched the clash of the two men. Genji was swinging his blade faster than she could keep up with, only hearing the dings and clangs of his attacks hitting nothing but the gauntlet as Gabriel was able to match each and every attack with his own. They moved from spot to spot, with Genji jumping away to get a new angle of attack before charging in and swinging, to no avail.

She had to do something, but what? If she stepped in, she was sure that Genji's caring nature would take over distracting him. She knew that this would cost him his second chance at life that she had given him. She couldn't readily attack Gabriel from behind either as her fear of him outweighed any chance she saw of doing worthwhile damage. She heard Amelie and Sombra behind her making small talk, her ears prickling as she listened.

"Should we help out Gabe? Little Sparrow has changed from what I've been reading. He's all at peace or something like that."

"No, let Gabriel have his fun. I would rather him die than suffer any consequences of interfering. Especially with that damnable gauntlet now."

"So we just sit here and hope ninja boy doesn't want to lop our heads off either?" Sombra sounded rather nervous now, while Amelie remained calm as she spoke.

"If by some chance Gabriel loses, you can hack little Genji, correct? It might not do much but it will buy us some time. You know where we will meet up." If Mercy didn't know any better, she would say that Amelie almost sounded as though she cared about Sombra. Though she was more certain that it was merely to back up the story that she would have to tell their bosses should Gabriel die to Genji's blade.

Mercy's eyes snapped up as she heard one clash louder than the others, both men a good distance from each other and panting audibly. Genji seemed much more worn though, his stance looking diminished as his blade wasn't held as high as before.

"Getting tired, little Shimada? Perhaps I should have had Widow bring Hanzo back with her. Killing him might have gotten a good fight out of you!" Gabriel taunted his opponent, his true colors showing to Mercy and the rest of them as he began to cackle, cracking his knuckles as he stood up straight.

"Enough defense, time to see what my gauntlet can really do..." Gabriel pulled a shotgun from his coat, as if from thin air and began to unload the thing towards Genji. The pellets were reflected right back at him thanks to Genji's reflexes though with every shot Mercy noted that Genji was losing ground, having to back up from the onslaught. Before his back hit the wall, Genji grabbed the wakizashi that was attached to the lower part of his back, throwing the blade not at Gabriel's face, but instead at his feet. Gabriel himself was so focused on shooting and getting close enough to punch the man that he only barely noticed the sliver of light that was aimed towards his foot.

"AUGH!" He let out a loud and pained cry as the blade hit it's mark with deadly accuracy, the sharpness of the blade allowing a direct stab through the man's foot and the ground itself, effectively planting Gabriel in place. He dropped his gun as his entire attention went to his foot as it began to bleed slowly. Gabriel's right hand reached down and grabbed the hilt of the blade, doing his best to try and pull the thing from his foot to no avail. Genji took a slight breather as he rested against the cool wall, watching the man doing his best to pull his foot free from the pain and injury.

"Give up Gabriel. I do not want to have to kill you in front of Angela. She doesn't need to see that." Genji stood once more as he caught his breath, his aura diminishing as he put his katana back into it's sheathe. He then flexed his right arm and hand, with three shuriken soon rolling out and between his fingers. He clutched them tightly, taking a few steps closer to the man who was still feverishly trying to pull the blade from his foot, though he had only managed to make the wound worse.

Mercy looked on, a small smile starting to spread along her lips as she was more than sure that this was it. Even if Genji wouldn't kill the man, they could leave. It was obvious that Gabriel was stuck in place and wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. As Genji stepped in closer to Gabriel, the wounded man began to shake uncontrollably, obviously stricken with rage at his predicament.

"NO. THIS ISN'T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO. THIS GAUNTLET WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME INVINCIBLE!" He began to pound the floor below him, the glowing gauntlet starting to get brighter as the man screamed.

"I'LL... I'LL... I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU. ALL OF OVERWATCH, EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU DAMNED BUGS. I'LL SQUASH YOU LIKE THE PATHETIC WORMS YOU ARE!" Gabriel had lost it now, the gauntlet blinding Mercy with how bright it was currently. The next thing she could hear was the sound of a pained cry followed by another, though both of them were from different sources.

As the blinding light dimmed a bit, Mercy's heart dropped. Gabriel was back on his feet, the blade removed from his foot and being gripped tightly by the gauntlet covered hand. On the other side of the blade was Genji, the thing sticking through his side all the way to the hilt.

Gabriel was laboriously panting, a demented smile plastered upon his face as he sat there and held Genji up by the blade, twisting the thing without a care in the world. More pained cries filled the room as Genji bled, the floor below him soon becoming splattered with the dark crimson life force.

"How's that feel Sparrow? Hurts like a fucker, don't it? Really makes you wish you were dead, huh? Well don't worry, that part comes soon enough... but see, I want to hear you beg for it. I want to hear you beg the reaper to bring the sweet release of death. I want you to die knowing that you did nothing. You didn't protect anyone, you didn't stop anything. If there's anything that you did... it was making me realize that there is no pity for creatures like you." Gabriel pushed on the sword a bit, causing a spurt of blood to fall as Genji gasped and groaned in pain. Mercy watched in horror, before she realized that Gabriel was now looking at her with that crazed look in his eye.

'Oh god please no...' She thought to herself.

Gabriel licked his lips a bit and curled his finger at the woman, beckoning her towards him for an unknown reason. Mercy felt as though she wouldn't be able to move, but suddenly her feet were stepping. She was making her way towards the scene that she wanted nothing to do with. What was going on? This couldn't be happening.

As she drew closer though, she felt... strange. Emotions flooded her head, but they were jumbled and mixing ones. The more she stepped towards Gabriel, the more her mind was making to be a hero, a savior of her and the other. After all, Genji had been the one to attack Gabriel. Without warrant at that. Mercy shook her head a bit, the thoughts not hers but she couldn't deny them long before they came flooding back.

"Angela... dear... I have a favor to ask of you..." Gabriel chuckled as he looked from the woman to Genji and then back to her, his eyes a different color than before. They almost looked like...

"Kill this intruder, won't you?"

Mercy's eyes were wide, slight streaks of tears running down her face as she tried to fight the thoughts that were invading her mind. Her hand reached out almost out of instinct, as though she had done something like this before. Her fingers curled as she fought the feelings, knowing that deep down this wasn't right. There was nothing proper about this. But Gabriel had done so much for her! He had saved her from what could have been a lonely existence! Except she wanted nothing to do with him, but she wanted everything to do with him. Her brain felt as though it was about to explode, her left hand reaching up and clutching at her temple.

"Angela... I'm waiting..." Gabriel was starting to sound impatient and it didn't take invading thoughts to tell Mercy that that wasn't a good thing. She swallowed hard as she fought against the voice in her head, the control over her body starting to fade as she pulled back and shook her head.

"NO! This is wrong Gabriel! This doesn't have to be the way we do things!" She held her head as the pain increased for her disobedience, though the distraction was enough to make use of.

Genji brought his legs up swiftly, feet planting on Gabriel's chest before he pushed away with quite an astonishing amount of strength for someone who had been bleeding out.

"NOW!" The cyborg shouted before landing directly on his back in his own blood, his hands instantly coming to the now open wound as the blade that had been inside him clinked to the floor.

Gabriel was caught off guard once more as he was kicked away from his prey, his body turning slightly to see a giant form heading straight at him from the hole in the wall that he had created with his first test of power.

"TAKE THIS YOU TRAITOR!"


	17. Fall & Rise

Mercy felt herself turn to the side as the rocket powered attacker zoomed by her, soon smashing into Gabriel and dragging him to the back wall, quickly plowing the man into the wall and causing a massive indentation. The gray armor held an obvious occupant, though the large hammer was another dead gievaway as the man pulled away from Gabriel, whom he had just plowed into the wall without an ounce of regret.

"Reinhardt?!" Mercy half yelled, half squeaked in surprise. She hadn't seen the man in ages, what was he doing here at a time like this?

Reinhardt turned his head halfway, merely nodding before his attention was drawn back to Gabriel. The beaten man was muttering to himself as his body slowly crumpled to the floor, the gauntlet fading in it's brightness. Reinhardt snorted to himself before taking a few steps back, his eyes flowing over Sombra and Amelie before he faced Mercy and began to take slow steps towards the woman, removing his helmet and greeting her with that warm and hearty smile that she had always adored about him.

"I thought you had hung this old suit up Reinhardt?" Mercy felt herself cracking a smile as she watched the towering man come closer, her body warming up in the company of an old friend.

"You should know better zan zat Angela! I will NEVER retire! Not until every inch of my body is incapable of moving!" Reinhardt beat his chest powerfully with his free left hand.

"Speaking of not moving... Angela... my legs are starting to go numb..." A soft and hurt voice brought Mercy back to reality, her eyes widening as she spun to find Genji still on the floor and bleeding rather quickly. He waved softly, trying to laugh a bit at the sudden reaction from the other two though this just caused a painful sounding cough.

Mercy ran over quickly, slowly moving Genji's hands from his injury, eyes moving quickly over the wound to see what he would be in need of. She nodded as she smiled softly at the man, reminded of their other journeys that had required such healing from him protecting her.

"Thankfully I should still have my staff around here. Stay right here, and don't move a muscle, jah?" Mercy rose to her feet, waving Reinhardt over.

"Keep him here and make sure that he doesn't pass out. Also, try to keep an eye on Gabriel. He might be hurt." Mercy's tone was caring even as she mentioned the man who had been the cause of Genji's wound in the first place.

"I will do my best, though don't assume I will call for any pains that traitor might have." Reinhardt sneered as he looked over at the still slumped man, the venom in his voice obvious.

Mercy shook her head a bit before briskly making her way back to the hallway to grab her staff, trying to remember where she had thrown in in the sudden attempt at keeping it hidden. She looked around a bit before she noted the end of it sticking from a slightly tented drapery, a soft noise coming from her lips as she threw the cover off and grabbed the missed utensil. She twirled it in her hands a few times before heading back, passing by Sombra and Amelie as they were now crouched over Gabriel, Sombra poking the man with her fingers as if trying to wake him up.

Returning the her two friends, Mercy nudged Genji's hand off of his wound, sticking her tongue out one side of her mouth and closing one eyes as if aiming the beam, trying to keep the situation light as she activated the healing technology. The light yellow energy quickly latched onto the man, his wound soon sealing itself back up like it was brand new.

"Now then Genji, what have we learned from this little adventure?" Mercy smirked as she looked at him, the man quickly bringing his legs up and against his chest before kicking out and landing on both his feet.

"Really? We're doing this now Angela?" Genji's face place unlocked and pushed backwards to reveal his face, eyes soft as they looked at the woman with a mix of gratitude before rolling to one side.

"Yes, really." Mercy stood up straight, assuming a teacher role as she raised an eyebrow and waited for an answer.

"We learned that nobody gets left behind, no matter what they've done."

The voice that answered wasn't Genji's. Mercy blinked as she felt her heart skip at what filled her ears, eyes floating back to the large hole that Gabriel had made. It would only make sense that Jack would show up at just this time to administer a lesson that Mercy herself had needed to learn for quite some time. She pushed past Genji and Reinhardt, running for the masked Jack and embracing him in a tight hug as she choked back any form of speech. He felt warmer than he had before, his arms slowly wrapping around her frame and returning the embrace.

"You didn't think we'd just let you leave us all behind, did you?" Jack chuckled as he patted the woman's back, pulling away from the hug and letting Mercy see that he had brought everyone with him. Lena and Hana were the first two to steal the woman from Jack, the two of them clutching to the woman tightly and crying out various statements about how badly they were worried and how much they missed her. Mercy smiled and patted their heads as Ana walked up and placed her hand on the woman's shoulder.

"I know it was hard, being on your own. You did well Angela." Ana nodded and smiled softly before looking inside and scowling as her eye fell upon Amelie. The cold assassin merely smirked at the old acquaintance, blowing her a mocking kiss before suddenly being gripped at the throat by a claw.

"Ghhrk..." She choked out, face turning with wide eyes to see a rather alive and awake Gabriel, his eyes a bright red.

"MORRISOOOOOOON!" The high pitched screech caused everyone around to cover their ears from the sudden pain as Gabriel rose to his feet, growling as he stared at Amelie, clenching his jaw before finally throwing her to the ground before him. The heavily panting man took a few steps from the wall, staggering at first as he continued to scream.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME THAT EASILY? WITH SOME OLD MAN PLAYING SUPERHERO?" Gabriel flexed his gauntlet hand, raising it high as the thing attached itself further upon his arm, covering the entire limb in a sleek black armor. Each step Gabriel took, his face started to drain of color and resemble the worn and beaten look he had shown Mercy before donning the fist. Though with each step, the gauntlet grew in it's brightness, an obvious symbiotic relation happening before their very eyes.

"I AM A GOD AMONGST YOU MERE MORTALS AND I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU AND ALL YOUR STUPID LITTLE FRIENDS ARE DUST IN MY HANDS." The voice was no longer anything that resembled Gabriel. Instead it was something that Mercy had become far more accustomed to hearing.

"Oh gods..." She quickly turned to Jack, her eyes wide.

"WE NEED TO LEAVE JACK! NOW!"

Jack didn't move for a few seconds, his stance straight and tall as he scanned what was coming for him. He shook his head and threw down his gun before starting to step towards the screeching monster. Mercy grabbed his shoulder, Ana soon on his other side.

"Jack, don't be a fool. We've seen what that gauntlet can do. It was enough to handle Genji and that was with Gabriel somewhat in control. If that's..." Ana was concerned as she looked over shoulder at the creature. The cold, dead face that she remembered as Gabriel's had streaks of electrical burns running from his eyes now.

"That is Anubis, controlling Gabriel." Mercy confirmed bluntly. Her grip became tight on Jack's shoulder as she continued.

"He was in my head. In Amelie's head. What I did back at the Watchpoint was what happened when I gave him an inch of leverage over me. Gabriel has lost himself and been completely taken over. Jack... You can't do anything here."

Jack stood there for a second, before reaching up and removing his mask, his aged face showing both supports that his mind had been made up.

"I don't have to beat him, I just have to keep him occupied long enough."

He pushed past Mercy and Ana, briskly walking towards the heavily panting monster that had been patiently waiting.

"Hello Gabriel, it's been a while I know. Sorry we have to meet like this. Don't worry though, I'll save you, just like old times..."

Jack smirked as he brought up his fists, readying himself for whatever was about to come his way.

The monster trembled and shook as it looked the man down, the arrogance that came from his stance and words only irritating it further.

"I AM NO LONGER GABRIEL. HE WAS JUST A FOOL WITH A DREAM. I AM ANUBIS. ENJOY YOUR LAST BREATHS!"

The thing ran at Jack suddenly, the man smirking more before he cocked his head to one side. The monster was cut short in it's charge by Reinhardt rocketing into it's side, like he had to Gabriel not a few minutes before. This threw the monster into the far wall as Reinhardt stopped his charge to stand beside Jack, a large smile on his face.

"Just like ze old times, huh?"

Jack nodded before looking past the large German and eyeing the rather scared Sombra that was making sure Amelie was alright.

"You, hacker girl!" He shouted rather suddenly, only having looked over the tidbits of info they had been able to collect right before arriving.

Sombra looked up with a rather shitty look on her face, a scowl plastered on her lips. She didn't respond, but merely stared at the old man. She had heard of him from the few times Gabriel had mentioned the old days. Of course it had been easy enough to look through the history of Overwatch and the two men. Needless to say, she wasn't a big fan.

"If you want Gabriel back, you're gonna have to help me. Think you can do that?!" The creature had pulled itself from the dent in the wall, screaming as it charged at Reinhardt now. It's glowing left hand reared back, aiming for Jack before quickly being stopped by the old German's shield. The power of the punch took the shield's integrity to half right away, Rein gritting his teeth as he pushed the beast away before taking his hammer in both hands and starting to swing away. While he wasn't holding back, the creature was able to dodge most of the hits, the distraction of the swings giving Jack enough time to continue trying to persuade Sombra.

"Do you see that thing? It isn't Gabriel! This isn't what he wanted, we both know that. If you want him back in any way, you need to help me. Or else I'm going to tell everyone to open fire and we will put enough bullets in him that nothing will survive it. GOT IT?!" Jack's face showed that while he was completely serious about the threat, he wanted nothing more than to save the man that was being controlled.

A sudden shattering sound came from behind Jack, Reinhardt's shield breaking from the latest attack from the AI controlled Reyes.

"NO MORE HIDING JACK!" The thing managed to block Reinhardt's hammer with it's covered arm, before twisting and rocketing that covered fist into the older man's gut. There was a brief pause, everyone's eyes glued to the impact that had just been made. The sound was silent, as if nothing had even occurred. Jack barely had enough time to curse under his breath before Reinhardt went flying across the room like he had been hit by a train.

The creature began to smile, chuckling sadistically like Gabriel had been when he was toying with Genji. His uncovered arm reached out to grab at Jack, who barely managed to dodge before pulling a knife from under his jacket and tossing it in response. The creature smiled as he caught the blade this time, eyes lighting up before nearly shooting the now electrified weapon back at the man it so despised.

The blade clinked as it bounced from the floor and headed right at Jack, who was slightly winded from the sudden need at such quick movements. He was out of his element here, there was no doubting that. His eyes widened as he saw the sparking blade heading for his eyes, before the flash of another forced the blade to land mere inches from where Jack laid.

The monster growled and stomped it's feet as it screeched in displeasure.

"DAMN YOU SPARROW, WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE LIKE A GOOD LITTLE FAILURE?"

Genji was soon at Jack's side, helping him up from the ground, though this action kept them from paying attention the creature for a bit too long. Mercy screamed out as she saw the thing dart for them both, Jack feeling the gauntlet wrap around his throat as Genji was soon choked by the other. The struggled as best as they could, kicking and pounding at whatever they could reach with their limbs, though it seemed to effect the creature little.

"Ghhrk... Gab...riel... please... I know... you're... in there... somewhere..." Jack managed to slip out what he could, feeling the air in his lungs starting to slip away and his body starting to burn with need of fresh air.

"I can't take this any more! LET THEM GO!" Lena suddenly zipped past Mercy in a flash of blue, the medic feeling a droplet of wetness hit her cheek as the young woman entered the fray so hastily. Mercy herself was frozen in place, knowing that she couldn't do anything to help. She wasn't a fighter and she would only get in the way, but Lena couldn't go out there either. She was quick yes but...

Mercy's fears were brought to life as the creature seemed to feel the fear and anger that came towards him in the shape of one very pissed off British girl. Before she had even made it within shooting range, the creature had thrown Jack to the ground, stomped down on his chest and pivoted in place. This brought the man into perfect viewing area for what came next. The gauntlet covered hand swung around, clenched tightly as it soon met Lena right in the chest. The cracking of bone echoed through the chamber as Lena's legs came flying in front of her, the sudden impact acting like a car crash. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she went limp, falling from the fist as the monster cackled joyously.

"Now if only all of you **bugs** were so easy to smash."

Jack's eyes were glued to Lena as she crumpled on the floor, his fists clenching tightly. He had been the one to bring her into this so many years ago. She didn't deserve to die like this. He clenched his jaw as he began to beat on the foot holding him down.

"SHE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS YOU SON OF A BITCH. YOU WANT ME DEAD, SO KILL ME, NOBODY ELSE!" He was fighting as best he could to get released from the foot, before he heard the sound of cracking and another body soon met him at his side. Jack didn't look at this new one, knowing full well what was happening now. The monster was going to kill him last, make him suffer and watch everyone else.

"Don't be jealous Jack, I just wanted to see you break before I finished you off. I want you know die knowing that you did nothing. You let them all die. It was and always will be your fault." The monster then stomped on Jack's chest without holding back, effectively stopping the last bit of resistance to his plan.

Mercy felt the tears rolling down her face, Hana clinging to her and bawling her eyes out at what they had just witnessed. Ana had been assessing the situation and realized that if they were to escape, it would be now.

"We need to leave Angela. Please. There is nothing we can do... we just... need to..." Ana was holding back her own tears as she pulled Hana away from Mercy's hip, comforting her as best she could.

"No."

Ana stopped and turned around, a look of concern on her face as Angela refused to leave.

"Angela, are you mad? Did you not just see what happened? We have no chance of fighting that thing! I know that Gabriel meant a lot to you. He meant more than you can ever know to Jack. But that thing just killed all of them without an ounce of remorse! There is no saving him!"

Mercy felt her body shaking, her tears like fire down her cheeks as she stared at what she had brought upon the world. If she had just kept the AI inside, she could figured something out, she could have gotten rid of him in another way. She clenched her fists tightly, her legs finally moving as she began to charge towards the ones she cared for. With each step, she felt something growing inside of her. It was similar to the power that the AI had let her taste when she was running away. But it was different than that. This power felt like it could help, her mind was racing with thoughts that seemed to make little sense, but she focused on them anyway.

The creature had taken a few steps away from his handiwork, closing in on Sombra and Amelie. Sombra had been finding any and all methods for ripping an AI from a human host, but with so few actual cases of this happening, it had proven rather useless. So now the duo readied their weapons, prepared to go down in a blaze of glory.

Mercy made her way to Jack, kneeling over him and Genji before cupping her hands around the older man's face and covering his cheeks with her tears.

"This isn't how... it was supposed to be..." She sobbed, choking every now and then as she shook feverishly, the fire in her body starting to grow worse.

"You were supposed to live forever, you know? You were like a father to me, to most of us. You can't just go and leave now." She looked over at Lena, then to Genji and then Reinhardt. The German was moving, although barely. It was obvious that he had seen everything that had just unfolded, his will to fight sapped by the horrible sight of losing more friends.

"You're the only one who can lead us Jack. Remember what we used to say? It became my motto, but.. maybe... you need to hear it... one more time?" The heat in her body began to rapidly leave her, her body starting to glow brightly as it had at the Watchpoint. She knew what she wanted, more than anything in the world. She wanted for all of this to go away, she wanted to be helpful, she needed to be able to do something. Her breathing grew heavy as one lone thought flared in her mind, giving her the strength to stand and stare down the creature. The thing looked back at Mercy, laughing rather condescendingly.

"What now Angela? Going to cry me to death?"

Mercy stared at the thing, her lips barely moving as her eyes were taken over by the bright light.

"Heroes never die."


	18. Finality

A blinding light overtook the area, the onlookers all covering their faces in response. In those few seconds of intense shine, Angela's desire came to fruition. She had all the medical knowledge locked away inside her head, her first attempts at toying with the subject of life and death shown in Genji. But to bring the fully dead back to life, to mend broken bones in mere seconds? That was something that she had never actually considered possible.

Yet here she stood, radiating a light that seemed to be doing exactly that. She felt the breath of life enter each of her fallen comrades, their eyes opening suddenly to the blinding light that filled them.

Genji's head was put into place, his spine corrected and every connector from his brain to his body reattached.

Lena's chest was pushed back out, the mark of the fist that had crushed her leaving her as those ribs were popped back into place to give her heart and lungs the proper space once more.

Jack's throat expanded back to it's original sizing, the light filling his lungs with the first cool breath of his renewed existence.

Once their wounds were healed, each of them were risen to their feet to face the monster that had taken their lives mere seconds before. Angela smiled as she felt their presence surrounding her, the warmth of their life filling her with a renewed sense of courage, bravery and hope.

The light soon faded, allowing those around the group to see what had transpired in the last few seconds. While everyone was rather shocked that the fallen heroes had returned, it was only the Anubis controlled Gabriel that spoke out.

"Ah, how considerate of you Angela! Here I thought that this day couldn't get any better. But now I get to kill all of you, including those three all over again? Well this might as well be my birthday!"

The AI cackled as he began to make his way forward, each step letting off a powerful surge of electricity as the gauntlet glowed brightly. The revived group of heroes quickly took their positions around Angela, knowing that they couldn't let history repeat itself.

"So, anyone got any good ideas? Because I reeeeeally don't want to take another punch like that..." Lena nervously laughed as she readied her pistols, fidgeting in place a slight bit as she looked at the others.

"Yeah, I got something." Jack spoke up, though not too loudly as he looked at Lena with a grin. "I think my plan is about to come around, we just need to keep him distracted for a bit longer. Think you and Genji can keep him at bay? He's strong but doesn't seem too agile. So use that to your advantage until I give you the signal."

Lena smiled and nodded, looking at Genji as she smirked. "It'll be like target practice, just like the old days?"

Genji brought up his right arm, shurikens swiftly slipping between his fingers. "Hopefully you have gotten better at aiming."

With a shared chuckle, the two of them rushed the creature, Lena dashing up quickly to his side and starting the process that they had all seen in the field at least once.

"Whatcha' doin' over here?" She would ask in her highest voice, an angry growl the only response she got before a swing came at her. He might have gotten her the first time, but Lena was a quick learner and wasn't about to let her guard down again. The swing hit nothing but air as Lena appeared on the angered being's other side, a laugh coming from her now.

"Come on now, you really gonna hit a girl?" Another swing, another miss.

"Well no, guess not. Since you ain't hittin' nothin'!" The girl dodged another swing by going backwards before waving her finger at the now enraged AI before she looked up. Her sudden upward glance caused the creature to follow in sync, only to find Genji's feet soon placed firmly upon his face. The power of the kick sent the AI to the ground, though not for very long. The gauntlet soon went to grab at the nimble ninja, finding nothing but air once more.

"To think, we were all afraid of you. I am more afraid of my mentor than you." Genji wasn't usually one to taunt, but it honestly felt good to have such an easy way of controlling the AI's actions. The sad part was that the thing reminded him of himself when Gabriel had first taken an interest in him and wanted him for Blackwatch. THe AI wanted nothing but power, to kill those who he believed had wronged him. It was a sobering experience to see what might have happened, had Genji not sought out and found inner peace.

As the team of Genji and Lena kept the AI busy, Jack grabbed Angela and quickly brought her to Reinhardt, the old German finally free of his wall. He quickly brought both of them into a tight embrace, the armor he wore making this much harder to pull away from.

"AHHH MY FRIENDS! I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU ONCE MORE!" His voice boomed as he let the two go finally, smile wide as he looked them over with that usual mix of energy and charisma.

"Glad to see you as well old friend, but we don't have much time. Angela, I need you to stay right here and heal Reinhardt, I'll need him in tip top shape for my plan." Jack had quickly taken the wheel once more, his age seeming to have been long forgotten as he had his second chance at life. Angela nodded with an eager smile, ready to help in any way possible.

"Alright, Reinhardt. You remember that old move we used a few times throughout the omnic fights? The uh... what was it... Ground Smash?"

"AH YES! THE EARTHSHATTER! HOW COULD I FORGET?!" The large man stood tall as he grabbed his hammer, his smile that of a man who couldn't wait to unleash hell.

Angela attached her beam to the large man, knowing that he shouldn't have too much damage compared to the others thanks to his armor, but she was going to make sure he was optimal. She watched as Jack waited for the AI to turn his back before running towards where Sombra and Amelie still sat. Jack spoke to Sombra quickly, the younger girl nodding along and flexing her fingers a bit as she shot a dirty look towards the AI, who was still swatting at the Genji and Tracer duo.

Jack stood tall as he made his way in front of Sombra and Amelie, starting to walk towards the AI. Anubis quickly took notice of this and forgot his current quarrel to handle the lone man, that murderous smile becoming wild.

"HEEEEERE JACKY BOYYYYY, TIME TO DIE AGAINNNNNN!"

Jack stood with a wide smile on his face, egging the AI on by putting out his arms a bit and giving a 'come on' motion with his fingers. As the creature grew closer, Jack could feel his heart racing, along with everyone else's doing the exact same. Angela's eyes widened as she looked back to see the scene, Reinhardt soon pushing past her with his hammer in both hands.

"Angela, thank you for this opportunity to fight. I know it came at a high cost for you, but we will make it up to you." The man turned and nodded at her, his smile warm before he raised that massive weapon into the air, the jets on the back firing loudly.

"HAMMER DOWN!"

The floor shook as Reinhardt's hammer slammed downwards, cracks rippling towards the AI, the bloodthirsty thing once again caught off guard in it's attempts to maim. As the floor crumbled around it's legs, the AI fell face first and was left vulnerable. Jack looked backwards at Sombra, shouting and pointing at the AI.

"NOW'S YOUR CHANCE, DO IT!"

Sombra nodded and tossed a small device toward the AI, her body suddenly disappearing before reappearing right above where the AI laid. She landed gracefully, knees in the AI's back as she ripped back Gabriel's hood, her fingers working over the place that she had messed with not too long ago. Screens would appear above her other arm, Sombra's brow furrowing as she worked. Jack shouted a bit as he ran back to Angela and Reinhardt, finally picking his weapon back up to prepare for the worst.

"WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME, YOU NEED TO-"

"WILL YOU SHUT IT? I'M WORKING!"

Sombra snarled a bit, the AI putting up quite a bit of a fight compared to when she had put him into Gabe. She felt sweat starting to form along her forehead, knowing that whatever the old man had done wouldn't last long. She was getting close, just a few more seconds...

"YOU... FOOLS!"

The screech from the floor caused Sombra to flinch and jump backwards, her body thankfully better at responding to imminent danger than her conscious self. The AI wasn't quick to rise though after it's angered yell, many of the surrounding onlookers noting the gauntlet had grown significantly dim. As the body rose from the floor, it's quick turn made many of them gasp.

The color was once again gone from Reyes' face, his eyes locking onto Angela as his labored breathing became audible.

"Angela... please... come... clos-" Reyes' gravelly voice cut off as he fell to one knee, his breathing only seeming to grow worse. Angela felt compelled to run towards him, her body going through with the motion before her mind had actually come to a rational thought about what could happen. She fell to her knees in front of the man, taking him by his shoulders and helping to pull him up enough so that she could look him in the face.

"Gabe... is it really you? Please... please let it be you..." Her whisper was full of sorrow as she had almost forgotten that behind the AI and the gauntlet, there was still the broken man. Gabriel nodded as he blinked a few times, though he couldn't seem to keep his head up for too long on his own.

"It's still in me Angela... I can feel it.. gnawing at my brain, trying to control me... you need to..." He coughed, his body slightly dissipating as his eyes flashed a bit of red.

"You have to kill it Angela. If I can do one last thing right, it's help you kill it. Just... aim for my head and when I..." He coughed again, body growing even harder to keep a grip of as Angela nodded softly, eyes starting to leak once more.

"If we time it right, we'll do it. Then I can say that I beat Jack. I did something he couldn't.. heh..." Gabriel weakly smiled as he leaned back a bit, his head pointing towards the ceiling.

Angela took a deep breath and rose to her feet, pistol in hand. A few shaky moments were followed by a sudden pointing of her barrel at the man's face, right between his eyes. The two of them stared at each other, the memories of their shared time running through both of their minds.

"See you around kid..."

A gunshot rang out through the room, the onlookers all flinching at what they had just witnessed. Where Gabriel had been sitting, was nothing more than a cloud of black smoke and the gauntlet. The smoke quickly dissipated into the air around Angela, while the gauntlet cracked and fell into two pieces, every bit of light soon diminishing from it. Angela stood alone for a few seconds, watching the smoke fade away from her sight, before she felt her mind clear. She turned to Sombra, only flashing her a glance before demanding an answer.

"Alive? Or dead?"

Sombra finally pried her eyes from the scene to check her readings, flicking through everything she had before nodding softly, not needing to ask who she had meant. The others began to make their way towards Angela as she stood over the gauntlet, putting her weapon away.

"I hope you've found some form of peace Gabe..."

Jack's hand was soon on Angela's shoulder, patting a bit before the woman was pulled into a tight embrace by nearly every other person there. The warmth of them felt wrong somehow after what she had just done, but she knew that if there was ever a time to have people beside her, it was now. Her hold matched the embraces she was given and then some as heard Ana and Jack talking over what they should do with the gauntlet itself.

"There's no real reason to keep it. We just saw what it can do in the wrong hands Jack."

"Well yes, but if we just throw it somewhere then how will we know that said wrong hands won't find it and rebuild it?"

"It should stay here." Angela piped up as she joined the two of them.

"It wasn't ours to begin with and while it is powerful, I don't believe anyone would be foolish enough to steal it now that it's broken."

Jack and Ana looked at each other, before nodding in agreement. Jack picked the gauntlet back up and looked around a bit, sighing softly.

"I really hope we have the money to fix this, they won't let us see the end of it if we don't..."

Popping up from behind him, Sombra was smiling brightly.

"Don't worry Jacky, I've got that all worked out for you all already!"

She brought her arm around him to show two separate accounts, one being drained as the other one was filled to what the estimated amount for repairs would be.

"Call it a favor, for actually helping Gabe this time around..." The comment was a bit sharp, though Sombra didn't stick around to hear any ifs, ands or buts. She was gone as fast as she had appeared, with Amelie seeming to have slipped into the wind during the Overwatch reunion tour. Jack sighed to himself and shook his head.

"Well, I guess the only thing to really do is go home. I don't know about you all but I need some sleep..."

Angela and the others nodded as they all made their way back towards the drop ship that had brought them there in the first place, though something caught Angela's eye before she walked out of the large hole in the wall. She whipped her head around, looking for whatever it had been that had gotten her attention, though she saw nothing but an empty museum now. She felt compelled to speak and while she felt silly for talking to the open air, she did so anyway.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you Gabriel. But just know that I am always here. You might not admit it, but you need a guardian angel."

Angela smiled to herself softly as she pictured the face that Gabriel would have made at such a comment. She made her way towards her friends, excited to get back home and put all of this behind her.

For the first time in what felt like ages, she felt content with the world.


End file.
